Beetlejuice: Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga
by jgames
Summary: <html><head></head>Lydia is a 16 year old girl who lost her mother eight years ago. Now moving into a house in Peaceful Pines Connecticut. Her life begins to turn upside down the moment she unlocks a mysterious book. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW.</html>
1. Episode 1 My Name is Lydia

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

_Disclaimer: First of all, I do not own Beetlejuice or the characters associated with it. This __**is**__, however a brand new story and is not based on nether the movie or the cartoon show. So please, do not compare it to either and bear with me as I take you on an adventure to the Neitherworld and how an unlikely team discovers how their destinies were intertwined._

**Episode 1: My name is Lydia**

The rain was pouring down like a constant barrage of dense, hard arrows of water, beating against all sides of the gray Ford station wagon of the Deetz family. Finally arriving in Peaceful Pines, a quaint little town in the state of Connecticut. Lydia Deetz, a pale white girl about the age of sixteen. Her hair was jet black and she preferred to keep it tied up with a dark blue ribbon she had received from her deceased late mother Elizabeth Deetz. Dismal and filled to the brim with despair for her loss no more than eight years ago, Lydia displays her feelings by clothing her body with black outfits and by shunning herself from the outside world and mostly crying herself to sleep night after night.

Lydia's father, Charles Deetz, was more of an upbeat fifty seven year old man that lived for the moment as he sold real estate for a living. Believing in only what was in front of him in that instance, he eventually made the decision of remarrying to the lovely, but clueless, Delia Lynn. A woman born and raised in the big cities of New York, She was definitely street smart, but she fancied herself an "artist", even if it was pretty obvious that she had absolutely no talent for anything besides shopping and gossip.

They traveled along until they were able to spot their new home, an abandoned house on top of a hill where all life had vacated long ago. None had lived in the house since its construction and some even believe that it was built on top of a gateway to the Underworld itself. Lydia had only reluctantly agreed to move houses for the seventeenth time in her lifetime recently. They used to live in a decently large house in Portland, Oregon before this and now, due to her father's profession, had to pack up and move once more. It was hard enough to make friends with her dark attitude and pale complexion and moving all of the time had not helped her at all.

"Look dear, we're almost to our new home." Delia squeaked in her high pitched, overly cheery voice. Lydia slowly lifted her head to look at the run down, four story house. "Yah, until we have to move again." She said under her breath in response to her step-mother's optimism. She had a habit of looking at things with a more logical approach and that usually came off as skepticism. "This is the last time we'll move. I promise." Charles Deetz said to his daughter to help reassure her and try to make her feel better. "That's what you said when we moved to Oregon." She retorted again under her breath. She leaned closer to the left rear car window, resting her elbow along the window's ledge and her chin in the palm of her hand. Lydia daydreamed about one of the days she held so fondly in her memory about her mother. She envisioned her mother's black hair, draping down to the center of her back, her mother's flawless face that Lydia had luckily inherited. She pictured her mother's hazel green eyes and the way she always looked so kind and full of light.

Then Lydia suddenly flashed back to that tragic night when Elizabeth and she were driving home from a doctor's appointment. The sun had just set over the horizon when, the owner of a large silver Chevy Blazer, driving in the oncoming lane, somehow fell asleep at the wheel and drifted into the lane Elizabeth and Lidia were driving in. Elizabeth made a split second decision and swerved to the left in order to avoid the SUV, and sounded the horn to alert the driver. A screaming and panicking Lydia stiffened up her back and pressed herself against the leather seat of the small green Acura Legend, as Elizabeth spun the wheel left and right to regain control of the vehicle. In reaction, the car swerved in both directions and eventually, slid perpendicular to the road, the front seats still located in the oncoming lane. The ordeal was over in a flash and there was little time to react to the next one. A white Suburban was driving down the same road as the Blazer at around sixty miles per hour and barely got to his breaks before plowing into the driver side of the helpless Acura. The only thing Elizabeth was able to accomplish before the forceful collision was wrap her body around her eight year old daughter to attempt to protect her from the majority of harm.

The Suburban pushed the now crumpled up and mangled heap of what once was a small sedan around thirty five feet or more before it skidded to a stop. The heap of metal and upholstery still had enough force in it to travel another seven feet before skidding to a stop itself. The now fully awake driver of the Blazer had stopped his vehicle on the other side of the rural road before witnessing the horrible collision. Shocked at the outcome of his own decisions, the man ran to the folded Acura to make any attempts to rectify the damage he figuratively caused. Upon looking in the shattered window of the passenger side, He saw the woman pinned to the inside of the crumpled vehicle, by the bent and folded door and the imploded front end, and nearly covered in blood. Elizabeth slowly lifted her head to reveal a scared and shaking Lydia who was only cut by the flying glass and bruised slightly.

Elizabeth spoke to the man in a weak and gasping voice. "Please, call the paramedics. Help us!" The man did as he was told and the paramedics arrived within ten minutes of the call. The sirens could be heard off in the distance and a minute later, the white ambulance trucks pulled up as close as they could to the wreckage. At this time, Elizabeth was quickly fading from life as the paramedics and the rest of the crack task force worked to pull a panicking, fear stricken Lydia from the mangled vehicle. After pulling the little girl to safety, the team of responders made their way to the other side of the vehicle to pull Elizabeth to safety and move her to a hospital. Using the instrument called the "jaws of life" they pealed back the layers of metal and finally freed the woman from the car. Her shirt was drenched in her own blood both in the front and in the back, as well as there was chatter from the paramedics of injuries to her spinal column and stomach. However, their talk was too technical for the eight year old girl to fully understand.

The ride in the ambulance was a lonely one as they both were rushed to a nearby hospital in separate vehicles. The paramedic man that stayed with Lydia for the duration of the trip, did all he could to comfort her and reassure her that Elizabeth was being taken care of. Even though the statement was completely true, there was little the paramedics were able to do. Elizabeth whispered something inaudible to the paramedic, who was desperately trying to keep her alive, and finally rested her head back and closed her eyes for the eternal sleep, just as the ambulance pulled into the building's parking lot.

"Lydia?" Delia called to the girl, startling her from her daydream. Lydia suddenly found herself back to her dismal reality and also found herself staring face-to-face with the next stop in her obscure destiny. She exited the car and walked around to the trunk of her father's old Ford wagon to grab her luggage and solemnly made her way to the base of the house. Just as she reached the front steps of the house she felt a wind blow at her back. When Lydia looked up at the old rickety house she began noticing more details about it.

The house was definitely three stories tall, with an underground basement totaling to four stories. The house was also measured at around over two thousand square feet in its entirety. It was painted white, but weather and neglect had faded and dirtied the paint until it began cracking and peeling. The fact that the weather was still beating down rain and dark clouds hung thick in the sky didn't help either. The house looked like it was haunted by the devil himself and probably served as his vacation home. "Deadly Voo." Lydia said to herself under her breath. That was a saying she used whenever something either interested her or impressed her. Now to see what was inside.

Charles Deetz set down his bags, wrapped his right hand around the rust stained round door knob and twisted it. When the door bolt clicked, that was the signal that the door could be pushed open, and that's what Charles did. As the door swung gently inward, the hinges creaked loudly, screaming from the neglect. The lights in the entire house were turned off and the inside looked even more condemned than the outside. Wallpaper was beginning to peel off of the walls. There were cobwebs and spiders scurrying from the sudden appearance of dim light from outside, even though the dark clouds blotted out the majority of it.

The little family of three took their first steps inside the old house and was greeted only by dimming darkness and the smell of musty air. Delia made her way over to a light switch and flicked the old thing in its upward position. The lights then flicked on and a great variety of insects scampered away in fright from their new intruders. "Oh", Delia gasped, "Looks like we'll need to call the exterminator tomorrow." Thinking that she might grow to like this house, Lydia turned to her father and said, "I'm going to go pick out my room, oh kay?" Charles simply looked at his daughter, gave the idea a thought and said to her, "Sounds good. But be careful though. And remember to call for help if anything collapses." Lydia rolled her eyes and said with frustration, "Yes dad." Then she made her way to the staircase in the back of the entryway. The entryway itself took up a good quarter of the house and had a two story tall ceiling with a large crystal chandelier in the middle of it. A set of stairs on the far right side of the entryway led Lydia up to the second floor where the bedrooms and a single bathroom were located. She made her way to the right and opened the first door on the left side of the short hallway. The room looked like it use to be a guest room and was still furnished with antique furniture, even if it was covered in cobwebs and caked with dust.

Sitting just to the right of the door was a vanity with a mirror and a stool bench. It looked like it was made of either birch or redwood. Lydia placed her luggage down and flicked on a light switch. The lights failed to turn on in this room. When Lydia realized that it was due to a burned out light bulb, she smiled at the irony. Just as she took one more step forward, she was startled by a flash of lightning off in the distance and the clash of thunder around three seconds later. Regaining her composure, Lydia decided to poke around her new room a bit. She began by opening, looking through and closing the drawers of the vanity. The first drawer was empty, and so was the second. However when the third drawer slid open she found an old skeleton key. It was quite odd though as the bottom of the key's neck was in the shape of a spider. Lydia held the key up in the air with her right hand to inspect the strange thing better. She failed, however, to notice a real spider crawling up her leg and onto her left hand. The spider was fairly large, had a good sized abdomen for its proportions and was jet black. Lydia only realized that something was crawling on her when the spider bit her in between her thumb and her first finger.

Feeling the stab of the spider's fangs, Lydia instinctively shot her hand up and shook it, flinging the spider to the ground in front of her. However, when the spider hit ground, it didn't turn back onto its legs and quickly skitter away. Instead the moment the spider struck ground, it vanished into dust. "Ow!" Lydia gasped as she began sucking on the bite mark, hoping to suck out any lethal poisons. "Are you alright Lydia?" Delia asked Lydia from beyond the door. "Just a spider bite mam." Lydia still didn't call Delia "mother" much, due to the fact that she was still hung up on her mother's accident and wasn't willing to accept Delia as her mom yet. "Oh dear. Are you alright?" The woman then said, slightly worried about her stepdaughter. "Mm hm." Lydia mumbled while sucking on the bite. Delia then made her final decision about calling the exterminator. "I'll go call the exterminator immediately." She said then walked off to go find a phone book and a land line.

Lidia continued looking around the room as she sucked on the bite another few seconds. A few feet from the door and against the leftmost wall, was a queen sized bed with an extremely old mattress that was worn and had springs sticking out of it. Along the back left corner, stood a chest and six drawers. Along the back wall was an arched window with tattered, moth eaten window drapes. In the back right corner, tucked into the wall, was the closet. Lydia decided to take a look inside and slowly opened the closet door hoping to find the boogeyman or something. Instead the closet was completely empty other than a single book lying on the ground in the back of the closet. Curious, Lydia knelt down and picked the book up off of the ground and began to examine it.

The book had no title but was intricately decorated with bound leather. An imprint in the front cover resembled a black widow spider if one looked carefully at it. The corners were decorated with gold plates in the shape of spider webs and the book also had a locking cover that was held together by a triangle clip and a leather strap. Lydia tried to pry the book open thinking that the strap was old enough to break under the strain. However, she had no luck opening the book at all. She examined the lock carefully and noticed a key hole in it. Remembering the key in her right hand, she decided to see if it would fit. She held the book on top of her left arm, holding the book steady with her hand. Taking the strange key in her right hand and holding it with the first knuckle of her forefinger and the tip of her thumb, she fit the key into the keyhole. Noting that the key fit perfectly in the lock, she turned the key to the right and eventually heard a clicking noise as well as saw the books lock snap open. She then carefully pulled back the leather strap and placed the book in her right arm for better access. With her left hand she gripped the cover of the book and pulled it open.

The book was filled with nothing but blank pages at first. Then, suddenly the entire book began to glow in Lydia's hands. At the same time, the glass in the mirror began to turn dark and began to pour out a thick dark mist. The mist began forming the shape of a hand and it forcefully grabbed Lydia around the waist and arms, pressing the book against her stomach. The hand then quickly dragged Lydia toward the mirror. Lydia closed her eyes thinking that she was going to smash right against the mirror. Instead she passed into the mirror and found herself being pulled through a strange tunnel. The walls of the tunnel were cylindrical and looked as if they were made of silver mist. Suddenly, the glow from the book intensified and destroyed the dark misty hand that grabbed her. Now she was freefalling in a mysterious tunnel and had no idea how to get out of it. Just then the book had stopped glowing and then began breaking itself apart into little red spiders that began covering Lydia's entire body. At once Lydia began panicking and freaking out about being covered my millions of tiny spiders. She began swatting and smacking at the tiny little things, but it was no use. No matter what she did, the spiders wouldn't die. Finally she fainted from all of the stress and panic and fell limp. She was now completely at the mercy of the little spiders. Once the spiders stopped moving, they began fusing into a cloth that rested on Lydia's shoulders. The cloth resembled a red poncho with black lines in the form of a spider web that began at Lydia's neck line all the way down the entire piece of fabric.

It wasn't long until there was a bright light at the end of the silvery tunnel and Lydia was spat out of a portal high in the air of a strange new land, in which she began to plummet to its ground below.

A strange figure rummaging through a giant mound of trash was close by and saw a sudden flash of light in the sky and a figure shot out of it. He followed the strange figure that came from the light until it crashed not too far from where he was. At first the shadowy figure continued rummaging for a decent meal and wanted to ignore the strange figure that had crashed, but he soon stopped singing to himself and sighed, "This is gonna continue to eat at me, isn't it?" He said in his gruff deep voice. Then he made his way toward the crash site.

Slowly, slowly the dark figure reached the crater made by the incoming creature. It was a human girl. Her skin was pale, but she was very pretty. Despite the massive impact, she seemed to be unharmed, just unconscious. A small groan came from the girl, indicating that she was alright, but outside was no place for a little girl. The dark figure was about to pick her up when he heard two voices come from a good distance away. "I think she landed over here." One of them said. "I hope so. If we don't find her, the queen will feed us to the sand worms." The other one noted. "Are they talking about **her**?" The shadowy figure asked himself. He then lifted the girl up off of the ground and took off deep into the piles of junk.

"It's too bad the sand worms can't sniff her out." One of the voices said as they emerged into view. They were two male soldiers wearing bronze colored armor and both wielding bronze spears. Even though the face was exposed, the only thing that could be seen was their glowing, red eyes. The rest of their faces were shrouded in darkness. "Yah, but you know how they get around places like this. This stuff is like cat nip to them." The other soldier said. They were completely identical so it was extremely difficult to tell which soldier was actually talking. They made their way to the crater and both gazed in. "Where did she go?" One of them asked. "There's no way she could have gotten up after that impact." The other one deduced. "Perhaps she did and wandered off somewhere?" The first one added. "Let's search this place before we make our report." The second suggested. "Good idea." The first one said. Then they split up and began to search the dump site for any sign of the girl.

During their conversation, however the shadowy figure slipped away with the girl and made his way into a decrepit bus. In the front seat, he pulled the shifter so the bus was in drive and then turned the door opener to open the folding door. As it did, a wall designed like a wall of junk opened up and revealed a hidden passageway where the shadowy figure slipped in with the girl and closed the secret door behind him.

It took another hour before Lydia began to stir again. The shadowy figure had gone out just minutes before to see exactly how safe it was outside and to prepare a decent meal for the young lady. Lydia's eyes slowly opened and her head felt like a chunk of wood after an ax had gotten to it. She slowly sat up where she was lying and placed her right hand on her forehead to attempt to hold down her headache. The moment her eyes had readjusted and her vision had cleared and her world had stopped spinning, she began looking around her new surroundings.

She was sitting on a small twin sized mattress with no frame or box spring, but the mattress still seemed fairly new and used very little. The room was fairly small but looked like it was cozy enough to allow two people to live in. Like a one-bed-room-apartment. Straight across from Lydia stood another twin sized mattress just lying on the ground like hers was. It even looked to be in the same condition as the one she was lying on. Directly to her right was a concrete wall that looked slightly decorated with schedules and lists of some sort. To her left, there was a small space for a mini kitchen and lounging area. A single light bulb hung from a fixture that was dangling from the ceiling by two inches of chords. The ceiling itself was also made from concrete and was slightly cracked in some areas. Nothing too bad though. Off in the farthest corner from her was placed a staircase that looked like it led outside. The kitchen area had a small card table and two foldable chairs for its dining and prep area. There also was a single refrigerator that was covered in rust and stains for food storage.

Confused and wondering how she had gotten there, she slowly stood to her feet to begin exploring her new surroundings. The ceiling of the little space was no more than two feet taller than her head. In fact, Lydia reached up and touched the ceiling with her palm and still had her elbow slightly bent. "Oh, you're awake." A mysterious, gruff voice that came from the staircase said to her. Startled, Lydia jumped back and fitted herself in the nearest corner of the room, which happened to be at the top right corner of her mattress. "Easy there kiddo. I'm not gonna hurt ya. In fact, I saved ya from those guards outside." The voice said trying to reassure her. "Guards? What guards? Where am I?" Lydia asked confused and in a mild panic instead. The owner of the mysterious voice emerged into the light of the room and revealed his face to her. He was a blondish green haired man in his late forties. His scraggily blondish-green hair was pulled back and extended down to his shoulders. He wore a black and white striped suit with a purple button up shirt and a black tie. His eyes were set back slightly in his darkened sockets, his skin was as pale as her own skin and his teeth made him look like a vampire that refused to brush his entire life. The man also had a severe overbite and a little bit of a pot belly resting on his hips. He also showed off long red fingernails. "The guards that were..." The man started to say. When he realized that the girl still had no clue what he was talking about, he gave up his explanation. "Never mind." He said then stretched his right hand out to shake hers. "You can call me Beetlejuice." He told her. At first Lydia was reluctant to introduce herself let alone shake a stranger's hand. Beetlejuice looked at his own hand puzzled and said, "Look, it's not like it's gonna bite you or anything." Getting over her shock and fear, Lydia took a few steps forward and grasped the man's hand and shook it. "Ly, Lydia. Lydia Deetz." She said. "Well that's a stranger name than mine, Ly-Lydialydiadeetz." Beetlejuice teased. Realizing that his hand was probably dirty from touching garbage, she pulled her hand away and began rubbing it on her right hip. "It's just Lydia." She corrected him.

"Excuse me, Lyds." Bettlejuice retorted then he walked over to the decrepit refrigerator, grabbed it by the sides and pulled it out and away from the wall. He then went to unplug the machine and a small back surge occurred nearly electrocuting him. "Whoa, now that's **shocking**!" he coughed. Startled yet amused, Lydia chuckled slightly. "Oh, good. You have a sense of humor. We'll get along just fine then." Beetlejuice said as he stood up and gripped the fridge by the nearest corners. He held on tightly and spun the fridge around slowly, walking along with it. As the fridge made a complete revolution, its shape changed from a bucket of bolts covered in rust and multiple colored stains, to a sparkling white brand new fridge. "Deadly voo. Are you a magician or something?" Lydia asked Beetlejuice. The strange man looked at Lydia with half-eyes and said under his breath, "Newbie's. What are ya gonna do?" Then he turned to Lydia and said, "Yah, you could say that." He then plugged the new clean fridge into the wall and pushed the unit into the space of the old one.

"Hungry?" Beetlejuice asked Lydia. "Please." Was her response moments after her stomach grumbled. The man in the suit then opened the new refrigerator and inside, it was completely stocked with fresh food all except one red apple. "Is that why she threw it out? Boy she's getting too picky." Beetlejuice grumbled to himself loud enough for Lydia to hear. "Who?" She asked. Beetlejuice glanced back at the girl for a moment then turned back to the refrigerator and answered, "The queen of the Neitherworld." He thought about how to explain himself for a short while then he simply gave up when nothing came to him. "You know what? Never mind." He finally said. "Dig out whatever you want in there." Lydia cautiously made her way to the fridge and looked through it to find something she thought she wanted to eat. When she found some fresh fruit and some lettuce, she looked around for a knife to cut them up with. Eventually she found a good sharp knife. However, it was quite dirty. She lifted up her cloth to clean off the knife when she realized that she didn't remember putting on the clothes she was currently wearing. As she examined herself, she noticed that she was wearing a pair of form fitting black pants, a pair of black boots, a black long sleeve shirt that fit her perfectly, fingerless black gloves and a silk garment resembling a poncho. The silk garment was the only thing that wasn't completely black. It was red with a black spider web design all along the entire length. The front of the poncho came to a point half way between her knees and her feet while the back of the poncho came to the same point but dragged on the ground slightly.

"What the..." Lydia said to herself. "What **is** this?" She examined herself a little more and then continued to clean off the knife when she couldn't think of any logical answers. She cut up the fruit and the vegetables she had selected and threw together a small salad after locating and cleaning out a bowl and fork. After Lydia took her meal to the mattress and flopped down upon it, she sat up Indian style and began eating. "You know you're a slob, right?" She blurted out. Beetlejuice was munching on an ear of raw corn in the same manner as a typewriter. "No I'm not..." he retorted, and then looked around at his shabby living quarters, "I'm a survivor." Lydia said nothing. She simply glared at him with doubt in her eyes, stabbed at her salad with her fork, lifted its skewered contents up to her mouth and popped them in her mouth.

After a silent meal, Beetlejuice lead Lydia to the surface where she finally got a whiff of fresh air, or what was supposed to be fresh air. The moment she breathed in, Lydia had caught the smell of what could only be described as the smell of death. Once it entered her lungs she began coughing and nearly choked on the air. When she was finished coughing on the foul air, she opened her eyes and took a good look around. After getting past the enormous mounds of trash, the land was barren and solid with no signs of life at all. A dark purple mist floated just niches off of the ground and covered the area like a dense fog bank. "What is that smell?" Lydia finally asked, completely disgusted by the pungency. "That is a byproduct of the spells in the queen's cauldron." Beetlejuice explained to her. "Spells?" Lydia asked in confusion. "Welcome to the Nietherworld kid. The queen uses lost souls, like yours and mine, and puts them in a cauldron to fuel her magic." He continued to explain. "Lost soul? You mean like **dead**-lost soul?" Lydia asked, beginning to freak out some. "That's the only way here." Beetlejuice scoffed.

"No, no, no, no, no! There's no way I can be dead." Lydia panicked, and then suddenly a thought came to her head. "If I'm dead, then does that mean I can see my mother?" She asked Beetlejuice. The man thought about it for a little bit and then answered, "It depends on if she became a lost soul, a blessed soul, or a condemned soul. 'Lost souls' are sent here, 'blessed souls' are sent to Heaven, and 'condemned souls' are sent to the Underworld. How did she die?" He said to her. Lydia lowered her head in sadness and pain and simply told him, "She saved my life when I was eight." "Then she probably became a blessed soul." Beetlejuice solemnly told her. Lydia dropped to her knees for a short while and tried to hold back her tears of loss. Beetlejuice placed a kind hand on Lydia's back to try and comfort her, but was startled when he felt a few small thumps coming from Lydia's body. "What? Was that a heartbeat?" He asked himself under his breath. Lydia finally stood up and looked at him. "So, do you think you could at least give me the grand tour?" She then asked.

End of Episode 1


	2. Episode 2 The Nietherworld Crisis

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 2: The Neitherworld Crisis**

Beetlejuice and Lydia walked around the nearest town, called Dismallania, for a while. He showed her to all of his favorite old time hang outs. One in particular happened to be a local restaurant called "Scream Burgers". It was designed similar to a sixties diner, down to the red and white checkered floor, and comfy red bar stools. It looked really out of place, due to the fact that as they traveled, everywhere Beetlejuice took her, Lydia noticed that the land was completely barren and lifeless, just as the locals were also sparse. However, at Scream Burgers, there seemed to be around thirteen different creatures sitting down just to eat some burgers and chat. Off in the far right booth, closest to the window, sat a family of four large furry humanoid creatures, all wearing cowboy hats. Four zombies that looked like they belonged at a ranch in South Dakota sat together at the bar admiring the waitress. A vampire and a vampiress were sitting at a booth closest to the left of the door. It seemed like they were on a date, or something. Sitting at one of the round tables in the middle of the restaurant were three teenage high school mermaid girls. Each giggling to each other about some of the latest gossip they have heard. The mermaid girls weren't stereotypical mermaids. They were more human-esque, with light blue scaly skin, and were generally hairless. Instead, octopus tentacles lay on top of their heads as if that was their idea of a head of hair, tied together, wrapped up or simply left down to dangle. Each one was still quite pretty in their own right. They wore jewelry made from coral and gowns made from what looked like color dyed sea grass.

The waitress was also a mermaid creature and she was strikingly prettier than the others. She was fully grown with D-size breasts and thin fit figure, and short tentacles that draped just past her shoulders. She wore bright purple eye liner and colored her lips dark blue to contrast her bright green eyes. Her work outfit was a red and white striped shirt with a pure white skirt that hung half way in between her hips and her knees. She also wore white flat heeled shoes. "Well, look who it is." She said as Beetlejuice and Lydia entered the restaurant. Her voice was even and slightly sarcastic as well as she had a slight southern accent. "Who's your little friend, B.J.?"

Beetlejuice looked slightly embarrassed at the little puppy name. In fact, he even blushed slightly. Lydia chuckled slightly at the nickname's innuendo. "B.J.?" She teased. "Yah, yah, yuck it up." Beetlejuice retorted. "Sierra, this is Lydia. Lydia...Sierra." Beetlejuice then added shifting his hand between them while introducing them to each other. "Is she an old girlfriend?" Lydia guessed. "I got close darling. But B.J. here has always been a free spirit." Sierra said. Lydia chuckled once again and Beetlejuice finally retorted, "Real mature Lyds! Real mature." Lydia continued chuckling at Beetlejuice's frustration for a short while. When she finally calmed down, Sierra asked Beetlejuice, "So, when are ya gonna pay me back the eight hundred and sixty blood rubies you owe me?" Beetlejuice stiffened up and began to sweat slightly. "It's taking a little longer than I thought. I'll get it back to you soon."

"Blood rubies?" Lydia asked slightly confused. "New comer?" Sierra asked nonchalant. "Rubies are the form of currency." Beetlejuice began to explain. "They aren't actual rubies though. They are simply ruby colored crystals that grow here in the Neitherworld. Blood rubies are a form of these crystals that have a rare burst of blood crimson in the center of them and are worth over one hundred times more than regular rubies." Lydia fell silent for a minute as she tilted her head to begin calculations. "You owe her **eight hundred and sixty thousand** rubies?" Lydia finally blurted out. Beetlejuice quickly placed his hand over Lydia's mouth while shushing her. "Trust me. I've had my reasons." He begged her to be quiet. Sierra leaned over and whispered to him, "I keep telling you, there's and easy way to pay it all off." Beetlejuice simply leaned away and gave her a cold glare. "I said 'maybe later'." He retorted.

"Should I sit y'all down for a bite to eat?" Sierra asked trying to change the subject. "Just a couple of those Outerworld chocolate malts you guys are famous for." Beetlejuice responded. Sierra led Beetljuice and Lydia to a booth near a window close to the middle of the restaurant and left to go get their orders. "I'm worried about my dad. Do you think there is a way I could at least talk to him and let him know what happened?" Lydia said. "Oh, uh." Beetlejuice began. He turned his head to look out the window when he spotted a guard pass by and secure some kind of poster on the wall of the restaurant. Curious, Beetlejuice said, "Excuse me one minute" and slipped out to go and look at the poster. Sierra came back and placed one of the malts in front of Lydia, catching her attention. "Why so glum dear?" she asked Lydia. "I just wanna go and see my parents." Lydia sighed. "I don't think I can help you with that one." Sierra answered.

Outside the restaurant, Beetlejuice looked at the poster the guard had secured to the wall. It was fairly large in size and had an extremely poor drawing of a girl wearing a red outfit. The poster said, "Unknown girl wanted for theft and prison escape." He then looked below on the poster and spotted the reward of one million blood rubies. "Whoa, this chick must be dangerous if the reward is **this** high." Beetlejuice said to himself, and then quietly made his way back inside the restaurant, where he met back with Lydia.

As he walked inside, he noticed Lydia still glum over something. He made his way back over to the two girls and sat down across from Lydia. "Something still bothering you?" He asked. Lydia looked up at the pale man's face and answered him, "I was just remembering the last time I saw my biological mother." She answered. "Oh, was it a good memory?" Beetlejuice blatantly asked without thinking. Tears began rolling from the sixteen-year-old girl's eyes and down her cheeks. "Not exactly." She told him. At that moment, Beetlejuice had regretted the fact that he never thought about what he was going to say before saying it. "Oh, sorry." He apologized to Lydia. The girl simply nodded her acceptance.

"Look, I was thinking, there might be a way to get you to see your mom." Beetlejuice confessed. Lydia shot her head up in surprise and gazed at the ghostly man with a newfound hope in her eyes. "...but, it's extremely dangerous." Beetlejuice then added. Lydia's face began to fill with slight doubt from Beetlejuice's statement. "How dangerous?" She asked. Beetlejuice scratched at the jaw line of his right cheek with the first finger of his right hand, his long crimson fingernails just grazing over the skin. "Well, it involves traveling deep into the queen's castle, making our way to the throne room and opening the ancient 'Spirit Gate' behind the royal throne." He admitted. "What's the 'Spirit Gate?" Lydia and Sierra asked at the same time.

"The 'Spirit Gate' is an ancient doorway located behind the royal throne that is capable of connecting the Neitherworld to any of the other three worlds, the Underworld, the Heavens, and the Living World, or 'Outerworld'." Beetlejuice explained. "How do you know all of this, sugar?" Sierra asked. Beetlejuice gripped the lower collar of his suit coat and smugly closed his eyes while turning his nose upward with his pride. "I found that out just before I fought the queen, four hundred years ago." He said. "Wait a minute, **you** fought against the queen?" Lydia said surprised. "And lost big time." Sierra added solemnly.

Far away from them, in an ancient darkened castle, a shadow silhouette of a female figure in her early twenties was acting like she was just about to rip her hair out in frustration. "Aaaarg! I was so close to having it!" She shouted. "How could a mere living human overpower me so easily?" She was at, one point, hovering over a black cauldron in the center of a large circular room. The contents of the cauldron glowed with an eerie velvet color and shifted to deep crimson and back to velvet every sixteen seconds. She stepped out of the shadows and into the light of nearby candles and torches that lit up the enormous empty room she was shouting from. The woman looked indeed to be in her mid twenties. Her black matted hair extended down to the center of her back as well as she had a pair of thick gray horns that stuck out off of the top of her head and curved backward and finally upward at the points. Her eyes were thin and long and there wasn't much else too them. A small black dot in each eye served as her pupils and iris'. Her skin was grayish toned and she had long pointed hears on the sides of her head. Her neck was slender as were her shoulders. She covered herself in a robe that could only be described as Eskimo-ish. Dark gray fur layered the form fitting robe's neck and fell down to her naval area. The outfit itself was a silvery gray and also had dark gray fur lining both sleeve openings and the bottom of the robe. Underneath her robe she wore a simple white shirt and light brown pants that she had tucked into her long dark brown leather boots. On the woman's forehead sat a tiara of fine silver that wove its way through her hair and held an oval shaped white gem in its place in the dead center of her forehead.

The woman's slender black eyebrows pushed themselves downward as the woman screamed again, irate with frustration. "And yet, she eludes me even after the impact. She should at least have been knocked out cold. Who is this girl?" A small miniature imp hobbled around and followed her wherever she wandered as if it were a lost puppy. The imp had dark charcoal gray skin and stood only two and a half feet tall. It was completely hairless and had a pair of pointy ears on the sides of its human sized head. Its eyes were fairly large and the whites of them were tinted yellow. A pair of small black dots sufficed as the imp's pupils, and it sported a mouthful of sharp pointy plaque-stained teeth. Its body was tiny like a toddler's, and scrawny like it had been malnourished. A pair of tiny bat wings sprouted from its back and it would often use them to gain a burst of speed whenever it lagged behind in its pursuit of the female figure. The imp stood hunched over slightly spoke in a shrill high pitched voice. "Perhaps if we had a better idea of what she looked like we could comb the rest of the Neitherworld for her. Your soldiers' drawings are pitiful." It laughed as it held up a copy of a wanted poster. The woman snatched the poster from the little creature and looked it over. "I can see why no one had turned anyone in yet." She remarked and then went over to her cauldron, dangled the poster over it and began whispering words in a dark sounding language to herself. The contents of the cauldron began glowing brighter and eventually shifted to an eerie green color.

Back at the restaurant, Beetlejuice recounted the battle with the queen. "You fought the queen and lost to her?" Lydia stated. Beetlejuice looked slightly frustrated and crossed his arms as he responded, "I didn't lose... she cheated." "What happened?" Lydia asked in her curiosity. Beetlejuice paused for a moment as he tried to recall the battle. "Well, I used to be the self-proclaimed 'ghost with the most' and would often use my power over certain matter for some great pranks." "Power over matter?" Lydia interrupted. "Pretty much I used to be able to change things into anything I could think of and even transform myself. Anyway, one day, I got cocky and challenged the queen to a spell duel. A duel of powers to see who is has more." Beetlejuice paused and sighed for a short while. "Anyway, I had her on the ropes in about two minutes flat when she called forth a sand worm for back up." "What's a sand worm?" Lydia gulped slightly worried. She had noticed some of the customers talking about other people who had been eaten by sand worms and had figured out that they were probably dangerous.

Suddenly the ground began to shake violently and some of the earth and asphalt around fifty feet from the restaurant even began to crack and shift upward to make way for an obviously large tunneling creature. It wasn't long until a giant snake-like head began pushing the up heaved ground aside and pushed its way up and out. Even though just its head had protruded out of the ground it was still clearly visible. The giant creature looked like a cross between a worm and a snake. It was approximately seven feet in diameter and had black and white stripes around four feet wide alternating presumably all the way down its body. The creature's lips were lined with a green like ooze and it had large red orbs for its eyes.

Every customer in the restaurant ducked under one of the tables to hide from the monstrous creature except for one zombie that immediately panicked and tried to run out the front door to try to escape as far away as he could. Lydia peeked through the window and watched in horror as the giant worm creature saw the zombie and raised itself even further out of its hole. She watched as the creature peeled open its green lips only to reveal drill-like teeth on the inside. Suddenly, Lydia saw something be pushed out of the creature's mouth. It was another head! She stared as the creature pushed out a white head with a flat front. The eyes of this head were glazed yellow and had red glowing pupils that gazed at the poor panicking zombie. The white head didn't seem to have any lips as its razor sharp teeth were shown on the exterior of its mouth. When the creature opened its second mouth, it gave out a high pitched shriek of a roar and Lydia could see that it had at least two rows of teeth and a long green and purple striped tongue that came to a point. The creature dove for the poor zombie and crashed over him, taking him with it as it burrowed back underground. Lydia guessed it to be almost eighty feet in length and noticed that it had dolphin's dorsal fin looking spikes along its back. (Probably to help guide it through the ground.)

"That's a sand worm Lyds." Beetlejuice pointed out. "They collect lost souls for the queen's cauldron." Sierra added. Lydia simply gulped, curled up into a ball and hugged her knees in fright. The entire restaurant stood perfectly silent until the rumbling of the ground could no longer be heard. And even then Lydia was still shaking like a paint shaker. Her eyes wide open with fear and her heart beating a hundred miles an hour. "What in the world is that 'thumping' sound?" Sierra asked. "That probably would be my heart." Lydia nervously said without thinking. "How's that possible? Aren't ya'll dead like us?" Still shaking, Lydia answered, "Yah, I think so. I don't actually remember dying. The last thing I remember was opening up a book and suddenly I was dragged into my mirror by a hand that was made out of shadows." Beetlejuice and Sierra looked at each other in surprise and Sierra asked him, "How long has she been in the Nietherworld?" "Almost four hours. Why?" Beetlejuice wondered. "I think this little gal might be still living." Sierra stated. Beetlejuice opened his eyes wide and gazed back at the shaking Lydia. "How's that possible?" Beetlejuice then whispered. "Even if she **came** here alive, she should have keeled over within ten minutes of breathing in the queen's toxic fumes." Sierra was just as puzzled as Beetlejuice was at this moment and simply shrugged her shoulders at him. Sierra decided to peak over and look out the window to see if the coast was clear. What she saw was around thirty brass plated soldiers marching in rows of five down the road ways. "Ya'll get down under the booths closest to the windows, now." All of the customers did as they were told and hid themselves under the tables of the booths. The four mermaid girls huddled as close together as they could, the remaining three zombies each hid under a booth and the others hid in groups of two's.

"Listen", Sierra whispered to both Lydia and Beetlejuice, "The only time the queen sends this many troops out is if she was searching for someone important. And my guess is that it might be you young'un." She pointed at Lydia. Lydia, slightly confused, simply stared into Sierra's eyes and watched as she turned to Beetlejuice and whispered, "I'll provide a distraction while ya'll get away from here. Use the back door." And with that, she swiftly moved away from the two before Beetlejuice could say anything to her.

Thinking that nothing like this has ever happened to him before, Beetlejuice was so confused that his head began to ache. However, he did as he was instructed and moved Lydia toward the back of the restaurant as silently as he could. Lydia, still in shock, was unable to udder a single word even though she desperately wanted to scream out to Sierra. All she could do was watch as Sierra simply waltzed out of the restaurant and led the brass plated morons away from the area by making a mad dash down the street and calling them names. Beetlejuice slowly opened the back door of the restaurant and they quietly made their way out side and away from the building. A couple of minutes later, Lydia heard Sierra's horrified scream. The two turned to where the sound had come from and the only thing they could see then was the back of a sand worm moving like a snake in the grass and burrow underground. Lydia had to force herself not to cry out loud for the loss of her new friend. Instead she closed her eyes tightly and simply allowed the tears to flow. The two then continued onward out of town.

Back at the castle, the gray skinned woman continued to throw fits of rage. "How long does it take to locate and capture **one single girl**?" She screamed as she threw some sort of green liquid inside a decently large flask at the closest wall to her. The flask shattered the moment it collided with the stone and the green liquid spattered all over the wall and floor. The little imp that followed her said to her, "Have more patience my liege. Your soldiers are posting wanted ads all over towns that are still inhabited by lost souls." "This is taking too long. I'll just have to use **his **soul for the all seeing spell." She raved. "But, my queen," the imp warned, "A condemned soul cannot mingle with lost souls within the cauldron. You'll simply destroy yourself." "Then what am I supposed to do?" The woman screamed. The imp then lowered his eyebrows, squinted his large eyes in delight and grinned an evil grin. "Oh, fear not my queen, for I have a plan."

Lydia and Beetlejuice arrived in another town deserted by any life or afterlife. The welcoming sign was caked with dirt and hard to read but Lydia finally thought it to say "Havoc Town", the only problem she saw with that name was that there was no havoc in sight. The place was a ghost town, completely abandoned and left to rot. Buildings were wrecked and tortured by weather and neglect. Streets were filled with pot holes from moisture and lack of up keep. It looked like a complete ghost town that even the ghosts had deserted long ago.

Lydia and Beetlejuice looked around the town for a while for any signs of "life". Unfortunately there was nothing. They found their way into a grocery market of sorts to see if they could find any supplies to take with them just in case their trip took much longer than expected. While Beetlejuice was stuffing random objects into his coat pockets, Lydia decided to make her way to the middle of the street. She exited the old run down convenient store through its shattered glass doors and continued on to the center of the street and simply stopped and turned to gaze at the farthest edge of town. A lonely breeze floated across the pavement and eventually danced as it passed through Lydia's black hair. She closed her eyes and allowed the cool stale air to wash over her, her entire body filling up with the town's loneliness until a single tear beaded up in her right eye and rolled down her cheek.

"What cha doin' Lyds?" Beetlejuice interrupted Lydia's moment of silence. As she looked at him, she noticed that even though she had seen him stuff multiple large objects and foods into his side pockets, they barely looked like they had anything inside them. She was about to ask how he was able to do that until they heard the sound of marching in the distance. The sound was coming from the direction of the town's entrance and was getting closer by the second. Suddenly they heard an old man's voice call to them from inside an abandoned apartment complex across the street. "Please, come this way. There isn't much time." He said to them.

They instinctively ran towards the old man's hiding place and entered the old decrepit building just in time. The soldiers had just gotten within sight of the town and hadn't noticed any movement within. "You pushed that one awful close Beetlejuice." The old man stated in his aged and shaky voice. He was shrouded in a brown cloak but it was pretty obvious that he was seemingly over a hundred years old. Hunched over and leaning on a tree branch he used as a walking stick, gripping it with both wrinkly hands. His long white hair draped to the floor out of the hood of his cloak and he was even dragging a foot and a half of it behind him.

"Who are you?" Lydia asked trying to catch her breath. "Everyone eventually gets to know this guy Lyds. They call him 'The Seer' because he claims that he can see the future." Beetlejuice answered. "How can anyone actually see the future?" Lydia asked with her own doubt. The Seer answered to the girl in his own worn out voice, "I see many futures young one. However, it has become easier to eliminate the less likely ones and predict the actions of another over the years. You'll find that there are many wondrous things that wind up in the Neitherworld, many of which might seem unbelievable. But I assure you, the less likely it seems, the more you should believe in it." Lydia just gazed at the old geezer like she thought that he was purely senile.

"You should here the prophecy he came up with. No one has ever figured out what he means." Beetlejuice said to her. "You mock my words now, but you may soon learn to appreciate them." Was his first response. Then the old man gazed at Lydia for some time then began speaking again. "After a thousand years of peace, a shadow envelops the land. And the shadow shall rule with a grip of iron and sand. The silk of the spider shall emerge from her great sleep, and protect and free the oppressed, hungry, and week. As the great gates open and the battles begin. A maiden shall slay the shadows of sin. With a golden helmet upon her head, and a silver arrow upon her bow, she'll slay the shadow in the spider's stead and the land will shine with a new dawn's glow."

Lydia couldn't help but feel like the prophecy had something to do with her somehow. "No, that's ridiculous." She said to herself and shook the thought out of her head. "Either way, the guards shall pass on by soon. And it will be safe enough to continue on to the Castle Town." The Seer said to them. Surprised, Lydia and Beetlejuice asked in unison, "Why are we going to Castle Town?" And then they looked at each other slightly startled at how they spoke like twins. "The answer lies behind the queen's throne." The Seer answered. "You're talking about the Spirit Gate." Beetlejuice interpreted. The old man simply nodded. "It's sealed. How are we supposed to use it?" Beetlejuice retorted in slight frustration. "That, even I do not know. However, the answer might be found in the angelic queen's journals...if you can find them." Was their answer. Lydia looked at the old geezer inquisitively with a touch of confusion. "Angelic queen?" She asked. "The queen before this one." Beetlejuice quickly explained. Lydia slowly nodded in acknowledgement.

At that time the marching sound got close enough to overpower their whispers and they simply stood still and ducked down into the shadows. The sat and watched as the brass plated soldiers marched by, one of them peeking into windows every now and then. It was several minutes before the soldiers passed by completely. When they had passed by, the Seer spoke to them again, "Beetlejuice, remember to beware of yourself, or you will lose something important to the both of you." Beetlejuice raised his right eyebrow at him while Lydia turned her gaze to look at Beetlejuice.

After a moment of confusion, the two exited their hiding place and began making their way to the Castle Town. They hurried as fast as they could to get as far along as they could. Lydia failed to notice a decently large piece of paper hung on the wall of one of the decrepit buildings. However, Beetlejuice managed to notice it out of the corner of his left eye. Moving closer to inspect the poster more closely, he noticed that it was another wanted poster. The picture on the poster was that of Lydia's face. Gazing at the poster some more, he eventually noticed the one million blood ruby reward written on it.

End of Episode 2


	3. Episode 3 The Plot

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 3: The Plot**

Beetlejuice's eyes lit up with the thought of possessing those jewels. "Lydia? What would the Sand Soldiers want with Lydia?" He asked himself. Before he could even try to figure out a possible answer, Lydia's voice could be heard off in the distance calling to him. "Beetlejuice, come on before anything else, decides to get in close and attack us." She said. Beetlejuice ripped the poster off of the wall and quickly stuffed it in his pocket for later reference. He then hustled to catch up with Lydia, with thoughts of how to get the most out of the situation shifting and shaping themselves inside his head.

They continued traveling aimlessly until Lydia finally stopped and asked Beetlejuice, "Is it possible for a lost soul to travel between worlds using means other than the Spirit Gate?" Beetlejuice thought and thought for a moment trying to figure out how to answer the girl's question. "The only other way I can think of is the 'Guardian Ghost Pact'." He finally said. "Lost souls are capable of attaching themselves to just about anything during their last days in the Outerworld. But, the only way to travel between the worlds is the Spirit Gate. However, I read in a book once that if a living soul makes a pact with a lost soul, blessed soul, or even a condemned soul the two are bonded forever and are capable of transporting themselves back and forth from the Neitherworld and the Outerworld." "What's the 'Guardian Ghost Pact'?" Lydia asked. "The way it works is that a living soul develops a chant that includes the name of a lost soul, blessed soul or a condemned soul exactly three times. Once that's all done, the bond is complete and the living soul can control travel back and forth between the two worlds by simply saying the guardian ghost's name three times, or using the entire chant." Was Beetlejuice's explanation. "It's too bad that neither of us know any living souls. And I'd have to get in touch with my dad to explain the guardian ghost thing." Lydia sighed. Beetlejuice recalled the words of Sierra and said, "Yah, living souls." His voice trailed off as he was lost in thought.

They continues on traveling for a while hiding from guards and avoiding the sand worms. When they had finally arrived at the front gate of Castle Town, Lydia was amazed at the sheer vastness of the town. Even though it was creepily empty, it was large and full of buildings. The gates of the town led into a town square that was wide open and Lydia imagined a vast majority of different lost souls mingling here at one time. Laughing and chatting with one another, catching up with old friends and introducing any children or new comers. Off to either side was clearly a bazaar of sorts. Lydia pictured merchants competing with neighboring merchants for a variety of customers even though the items they are selling are completely different. She imagined other merchants meeting repeat customers and asking about their families and generally giving service to the valued customer. Pictured clearly in her mind was a market's hay day with all of the hustle and bustle. She shifted her gaze to a particular window in the main tower that she thought might lead to the throne room and imagined her mother, Elizabeth, up there watching over her subjects. She also imagined herself as the princess looking down at all of the citizens while the servants went about cleaning and preparing a banquet.

"Hey, are you ok?" Beetlejuice interrupted her daydream. Lydia quickly snapped back to reality and turned to her companion. "Yah, yah. Just...thinking." She responded. She gazed back at the empty city and finally noticed that only a handful of lost souls gathered there. Finally realizing how miserable this queen has made the entire Neitherworld. Preferring her daydream, she turned to Beetlejuice to ask him about what this place could have been like back then, but he had already began to sneak around to try to blend in with the crowd. Worried slightly about knowing that Beetlejuice hadn't said a word to her before leaving, she slid back into a nearby merchant's stall that had been abandoned and knelt down to hide. "I wonder what he's doing." She asked herself.

Beetlejuice continued on weaving in and out of the small crowd of thirty lost souls and made his way into a nearby ally. When he looked behind himself, he noticed that Lydia wasn't there. "Great now I have to go back and get her. Crazy girl." It was just before he left to fetch Lydia when he heard a high pitched cracking voice from behind him. "Fancy meeting you here, Beetlejuice." Beetlejuice turned around and immediately saw nothing. He shifted his head side to side to look for the voice's owner when it said, "Down here." When Beetlejuice shifted his gaze to around three and a half feet in front of him, he noticed a small imp standing there. "How do you know my name?" Beetlejuice asked." "Let's just say that I'm a fan of yours. 'The ghost with the most'." It answered. Beetlejuice simply raised his right eyebrow at the small creature and said, "I still don't know your name." "I am called Demattix." Was the little imp's response. "Yah, and what exactly do you want from me? My autograph is literally worthless. Otherwise I wouldn't have such a debt." His thoughts then turned back to Sierra, the person to whom he owed the money to. "What am I doing?" He asked himself. "With Sierra gone, I no longer have to pay off my debt. So why am I here? I don't even have a reason anymore to actually help this girl." He hardly realized that he was thinking out loud. "Still, it would be great if you could con the queen out of a million blood rubies. Turn the girl in, collect the reward and take off with the girl and the loot." Demattix suggested nearly covering his voice with false inspiration. "Look ya little imp, this girl is the first lost soul to hang out with me this much in a long time. But, if I had all of those rubies, I'd be set for life." Beetlejuice began debating with himself on what he should do in this situation until Demattix said to him, "When you make up your mind, meet me near the Castle Gates. I can help you get around the castle." "Helpful." Was Beetlejuice's only response. And with that Demattix slipped into a patch of shadows and vanished.

Beetlejuice decided to give the idea some more thought before going through with it. First things first, he needed to locate Lydia. Weaving his way through the town hiding amongst the merchant's tents and sometimes snatching any disguise he could put together and still not look suspicious, Beetlejuice made his way back to the front gates of the town. First thinking that Lydia might have been discovered and turned in by a local, he began to actually worry about her. Out of the corner of his right eye, a mysterious movement caught his attention from behind the nearest merchant stall. The stall was fairly simple and was most likely designed for produce or other kinds of foods. It had an orange and white striped canopy made from the cloth of an old bed sheet and the entire thing was made purely of scrap wood. A small area underneath the display tables looked large enough for a sixteen year old girl to hide in just perfectly. Beetlejuice shook his head with the realization of Lydia's hiding place and walked over to the merchant's stall.

"You know, hiding works better if you stop moving so much." Beetlejuice said to the hiding girl. "Sorry, you took off without saying anything. What was I supposed to do?" She responded. "I guess I'm still kinda used to traveling alone." Beetlejuice said trying to display a prideful apology. He then handed her a cloak that he had swiped from an abandoned stall. The cloak was made from a decent grade of material and was colored a dark purple. Lydia lifted the sides of her spider web poncho over her shoulders and slipped on the cloak. It was long and large, too big for her in fact. The sleeves hung down about three inches off of her hands, and the rest of the cloak flopped on the ground about who-knows-how-much. "I think it needs to be trimmed a bit." Lydia said to him. Beetlejuice simply rolled his eyes and said to her, at least the sand worms won't be able to easily smell you now." He said to the girl, and then he finally gave in after looking at her predicament and chuckling at it for a second. "Oh fine. Give me your sleeve." He said to her. Lydia lifted up her left arm and extended it to Beetlejuice. He took her arm gently with his right hand, curled up his left hand into a fist with both his first two fingers out stretched. He moved them apart and together emulating a pair of scissors and touched his long crimson nails to the garment's sleeve and actually made a cut. He continued on all the way around the sleeve until he had cut completely around and the front of the sleeve had fallen to the ground. "How did you do that?" Lydia asked. Beetlejuice simply looked at the black haired girl like she was crazy or something. "I told you, 'I can manipulate different kinds of matter', remember?" Beetlejuice reminded her. Remembering that he did say that in the diner Lydia silently gestured "Oh, right" with her head and mouth. Beetlejuice then continued on to trim the other sleeve and the bottom of the purple cloak so that it just barely reached the ground. Lydia then tucked the back part of her poncho into the back of her black pants to keep it from dragging on the ground and being seen.

Beetlejuice donned himself a disguise as well. Over his striped business suit, he placed over himself a dark ugly green cloak similar to Lydia's. Both cloaks had hoods on the back of them so they decided to hide their faces by pulling the hoods up and over their heads. It worked and they decided that they might want to blend into the small crowd of souls before doing anything else. Beetlejuice had continued debating with himself whether or not it was worth it to play both sides and take the girl to the royal library to research on how to open the Spirit Gate, turn the girl in and then send her back to the Outer World and continue to live his life in hiding, or if he should come up with another plan and at least tell Lydia that she might still be a living soul. Beetlejuice was so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed that he instinctively made his way to the Castle Gates.

When he looked up he had noticed that the Castle Gates were wide open, presenting the perfect opportunity to walk in and take a little "tour". "If this isn't suspicious," Beetlejuice retorted. "What?" Lydia asked. Beetlejuice looked back at the girl and said, "These doors are **never** open long." Was his answer. He thought about it for a while and then came up with a plan. "You know what? There's a quicker way to the library anyway." He added and then led Lydia around left side of the Castle walls. As he did, Beetlejuice had made his decision. Those jewels were too much for him to resist. But he also realized that Lydia had something that the queen wanted. And he wasn't just going to give it to her. Beetlejuice then stopped at a certain point along the wall and looked up toward a window near the top of the wall. "Up there Lyds. That window leads directly into the library." Lydia looked up in the direction Beetlejuice was gesturing to and sarcastically said, "And how do you suppose we 'Prince of Persia' our way up there?" Beetlejuice raised his right eyebrow and said, "Eh?" "Never mind." Lydia sighed. "How do we get up there?" She then translated. Beetlejuice simply levitated off of the ground about four inches and said, "Like this." "Lydia watched as Beetlejuice just stood on the air. "Deadly voo." She exclaimed. Beetlejuice stretched his left hand forward and gestured for Lydia to grab hold of it. When she did, Beetlejuice grinned and said, "It's show time." And with that, he began floating higher and higher until the two of them had reached the library window. First he gently tossed Lydia inside the window and then floated in nonchalant. Lydia giggled slightly from watching the man float in without a care in the Neitherworld.

Beetlejuice orientated himself and floated gently to the stone floor of the castle library. "So, what are we looking for in here?" Lydia asked slightly confused. "The Seer said that 'the key to opening the Spirit Gate may lie in one of the Angelic Queen's journals.' My guess is as good as yours on which book it is though." Beetlejuice answered. The two searched around the library for three hours before they eventually became exhausted from reading and carrying books. "Three hours and we **still** haven't found how to open the Spirit Gate." Lydia complained. When she looked over toward Beetlejuice she noticed white letters and numbers falling from his ears. "You think **you **have it bad? My head is so full of junk from these books it's beginning to spill out my ears." Lydia gasped slightly at first from the sight of his visual aid but soon began to chuckle again at his sense of humor. "Seriously though, we've been here too long. Why don't we ask Naria about the queen's journals?" Beetlejuice added. "Who is Naria?" Lydia asked. Beetlejuice slightly hesitated with a slightly worried look in his face before answering Lydia's question. "Oh, just someone I know that works in the castle. If we can find her, we might get a better clue as to the whereabouts of the journals." Lydia raised her left eyebrow with slight confusion and Beetlejuice began to sweat from the tension. "Why didn't you tell me that you knew someone that works in the castle before?" Beetlejuice exhaled with relief and then answered, "Well, you know...I didn't want to get her into trouble with the queen." He bashfully laughed and then awkwardly grinned at Lydia.

After getting that awkward scenario out of the way, Beetlejuice led Lydia to a particular area of the castle that resembled a wide open entryway. In fact, Lydia could see the main gates from where she stood. "Beetlejuice, what's going on?" Lydia asked with a kind of sickening feeling in her gut. Beetlejuice looked around slightly nervously and made his final decision on the situation. "We should get out of here, now." He stated as he began turning around to lead Lydia away from the castle. Suddenly, they could hear a voice from the shadows of the hallway straight across from the main gates. "So nice of you to come and visit, Beetlejuice. And look, you brought a peace offering." The queen of the Neatherworld cackled as she walked into a patch of light so her "guests" could see her. "I suppose that you're here to collect the reward for this girl?" She then added. Beetlejuice fell silent as Lydia turned to him with a look of shock and betrayal. "Reward? What reward?" She asked with her voice raised. Beetlejuice simply stood there looking slightly ashamed at himself. Suddenly the pieces in Lydia's head fit together, "You brought me here to collect a bounty? What's going on, Beetlejuice?" She asked still in shock. "Isn't it obvious?" the queen asked. "What about going to see Naria to find a way to open the Spirit Gate?" Lydia tried reminding Beetlejuice. The queen burst out laughing at the sentiment. "My dear, **I** am Queen Naria."

Lydia's eyes opened wide and her pupils shrank at the entire surprise. Beetlejuice had completely betrayed her trust. "I thought you were my friend." She whispered to herself. All Beetlejuice could do was stand in place and stare at the ground in front of him. Two brass plated guards came out from behind the queen, seized Lydia by the arms and began dragging her away. "You **bastard**! What about Sierra? What did she die for then, huh? What did she die for?" Lydia began screaming to Beetlejuice as she was being dragged away. As Lydia was struggling and screaming at the top of her lungs to demand that the guards let her go, Naria waltzed up to Beetlejuice and coyly said to him, "I knew you couldn't resist. This girl's life will go to a good cause, and the 'Spider Silk' on her shoulders shall join with its rightful master." Confused, Beetlejuice simply stood in place, an odd feeling of doubt and dread washing over him.

"Bring our honored guest his reward." Naria commanded one of her brass plated soldiers. She then turned back to Beetlejuice and whispered into his ear, "See, I'm not so bad after all. I'm allowing you to live to spend your rubies." She then grinned maliciously and slowly backed away and turned to head in the direction the other guards dragged Lydia off to. "Prepare the extraction ritual!" She commanded as she briskly walked away. In a few moments a sand soldier came in carrying a decently large bag over his shoulder, placed it down at Beetlejuice's feet and walked away back to his post at the left portion of the entry way. Beetlejuice then knelt down, untied the bag and reached in pulling out crimson rubies with a kind of sphere in the middle of them. Each stone was no bigger than Lydia's thumb nail, and there were a million of them. But, somehow, Beetlejuice wasn't happy about what had just happened. He recalled the words Lydia said under her breath before she was hauled away. "I thought you were my friend" kept ringing in his mind over and over. "Perhaps, I'll get over it after spending some of these blood rubies." He thought to himself and turned around to walk back into the castle town.

End of Episode 3


	4. Episode 4 Naria's Castle

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 4: Naria's Castle**

It was dark and damp, the place the brass plated soldiers dragged a broken and hopeless Lydia. The castle dungeons were not a lively place at all. Two guards held the black haired girl by each arm and another inserted a silver key into the lock of the large iron cage door of the dungeon cell. The guard pulled open the heavy iron bars and they screeched loudly as the door swung open. The two guards then placed themselves in front of the cell opening and heaved the sixteen year old girl inside, where she landed flat on her stomach. The prison keeper then swung the cell door closed and it made a loud clanging noise when the latch bolted shut. Lydia shifted herself to allow her to stand on her feet, walked to the barred door and gripped the bars with her hands.

Meanwhile, Beetlejuice began going to town with his blood rubies. He first ordered something to eat and walked around town trying to feel important. However, something continued to nag at him. Something in the back o f his mind. He tried to put it even farther back there until a familiar voice startled him. "I see you failed to heed my advice." The Seer said from behind him. "Woah! Don't do that. Not while I'm lost in thought anyway." Beetlejuice said to him. "Queen Naria has Lydia now." The Seer predicted. "She mentioned something about a 'Spider Silk' resting on her shoulders. If the Queen wants a stupid piece of thread, she can have it." Beetlejuice retorted. "Oh, you do not understand. The 'Spider Silk' is an ancient relic of special power. It instinctively protects it's wielder from harm as long as it rests on their shoulders. But it has other abilities as well." The Seer informed Beetlejuice. "I didn't see any ancient relics resting on Lydia's shoulders." Beetlejuice thought. "That's because, you only see with your eyes. The 'Spider Silk' takes on a form of a **red garment** when it finds its wielder and stays with them until it is either passed down or the wielder's soul is **erased from existence**." Beetlejuice suddenly understood what the queen meant by 'its rightful master'. "Lydia!" Beetlejuice gasped. "I'd hurry if I were you. If Queen Naria acquires the Spider Silk, she will be able to survive in any of the four worlds and become nearly impossible to harm." The Seer said to Beetlejuice. However, he seemed to be speaking to the air instead, due to the fact that Beetlejuice had run off before the Seer even said another word. "I knew he was going to do that and I **still** went into a rant." The Seer kicked himself.

Lydia looked around her cell to see if there was a way to quickly escape. The cell was nine feet by nine feet and was completely surrounded with stone save it be the barred door and a single barred window directly across and just high enough to see out of. A leak in the ceiling's back-right corner was dripping water into a puddle approximately the size of a dinner plate every second or so. A plank of wood with a small run down mattress placed on top of it served as a bunk for Lydia to sleep on. Suddenly she heard a voice calling out to her. The voice spoke in a thick French-American accent and sounded pleasant to her ears. "Ahlo?" It called. "Hello?" Lydia called back. "Zut alores! Eet as been zome time seence a new face as arrived, no?" The voice asked. Suddenly Lydia heard another voice from a cell next door to her own. This voice was female with a heavy New York accent. "It has, hasn't it?" Before Lydia could attempt to introduce herself, a smooth, yet rugged voice interrupted. "Would you two chatterboxes keep it down? We need to find a way out of here." It wasn't long before the three owners of the voices came into light and revealed who they were. The French voice belonged to a dried up skeleton man with a béret and pointed French moustache. He also wore a light blue t-shirt, red gym shorts, and white running shoes. The owner of the female New York voice happened to be an enormous spider that dressed herself in kind of a tap-dance tuxedo of sorts and shoes on each of her eight legs. The owner of the third voice was a creature similar to the look of the queen. He was slightly pale in skin tone, ruggedly handsome with charcoal black hair plus gray horns. He stood about five foot three inches tall and wore a black outfit complete with metal grieves, chest plate and arm guards. His eyes were a piercing green with a slit for the pupils.

The man with the horns seemed surprised the moment he saw Lydia in the light. "Well, well. It seems like the mystic Spider Silk has found a new owner. What's your name, kid?" "I'm sixteen." Lydia retorted, "And my name is Lydia. So, what's this 'Spider Silk'?" The pale man simply smiled and said, "It's the red garment you're wearing." Lydia looked down at the poncho she was wearing upon entering into the Neitherworld. "This thing?" She gasped. "How did you get into the Neitherworld anyway?" The pale man asked her. Lydia looked up and recalled the story of how she picked up a book and was dragged into the Neitherworld through her mirror. "I suggest you check your pulse." The pale man said to Lydia after she finished her story. The skeleton and the spider girl both looked on in confusion at the man's request, while Lydia placed the first two fingers of her right hand on the right side of her neck close to her wind pipe and just underneath her chin. There she felt the few thumps of a pulse as her heart beat in rhythm. "It seems fine...why did you want me to check my pulse?" Lydia asked equally confused. "You ave a pulse?" The skeleton asked. "Yah..." Lydia answered with slight hesitation. "It means you're not a lost soul, but still a living soul." The pale man explained to her. "Zut alores!" the skeleton gasped. "By my strands of web!" The spider gasped alongside the skeleton.

"Alright, that's enough. A guard called to the three prisoners as he made his way to Lydia's cell. "The queen's ready for you." Two more guards entered her cell as the first one opened the door. One of them then took Lydia by the arms while the other one clamped shackles onto her wrists. As the guards took Lydia past the pale man's cell he simply said to her, "Good luck." All Lydia could do was walk on by as the guards led her through the castle and into a dark chamber. The chamber was lit by twelve torches, each evenly spaced like a clock. However, one torch was lit with blue flames instead of orange. In the center of the room lay a table large enough for Lydia to lie down on comfortably. "Welcome my dear." Echoed the queen's voice from the shadows of the hallway behind Lydia. The girl gasped and turned around to look at her. The queen looked at Lydia with an evil and almost sinister glare. "Strap her to the altar." The queen ordered her soldiers. The two guards then began dragging Lydia toward the table and she struggled to free herself and make a break for it. However, she was unable to get free from the guards' grip and was eventually forced onto the table, her chest, stomach, wrists and ankles strapped down by leather belt straps that were wrapped in through the table's surface.

Still struggling to get herself free, Lydia began panicking, desperate to run away from all of this madness. The queen then positioned herself at the edge of the table closest to Lydia's head, hovered her right hand approximately a foot and a half over Lydia's chest and began speaking in a dark dialect that she could barely pronounce, let alone understand. As the queen continued to chant, Lydia noticed the torch on the right side of the one with the blue flame, which was located around fifteen feet from her feet, extinguish. The flames then formed an orange line that connected with the altar she was strapped to. The queen then continued to chant for another three minutes when the torch to the right of the extinguished one did the same thing. Every three minutes, another torch had extinguished itself and created an orange line straight for the altar, until the torch at Lydia's head had extinguished. The red line then traveled toward the table, circled around the queen's feet and then connected itself to the table. "Someone please help me." Lydia screamed to herself while tightly closing her eyes and forcing out tears. Her plea was answered by the crashing of a window in the distance, the sound of metal and sand being scattered, and finally, a familiar face bursting through the doors of the chamber. "It's show time!" Beetlejuice yelled. "You?" Both Lydia and the queen exclaimed at the same time. With the queen's break in concentration, the orange lines traveled back to the torches and the flames relit themselves all at once. "Beetlejuice!" Naria fumed. "Seize him!" Upon the order, sand came swirling into the room, shaping and forming itself into large hulking sand beasts that resembled golems. When one of them had finally completed forming itself, it gave out a huge deafening roar right in Beetlejuice's face. Beetlejuice took a sniff at the air and retorted, "I've got worse breath than that. Try living in a literal dump for three hundred years." Then he exhaled onto the beast's face. Apparently the smell was so bad that the sand beast simply fainted where it stood.

Slightly grossed out herself, Lydia still was helpless and strapped to the altar. "Would somebody get me out of this thing?" She screamed. "Gotcha." Beetlejuice answered, and then he pointed his finger at each of the restraints one at a time, and one at a time each restraint automatically loosened. Lydia slid her arms and legs out of the restraints and unbuckled the last one before hopping off of the altar. "Oh, no you don't." Naria said to Lydia with frustration and rage in her voice. The bloodlust in her eyes began to boil over as the whites of her eyes shifted to a crimson red color. Black wings made from the same black mist that dragged Lydia through the mirror erupted from the queen's back and her voice shifted to that of an evil echoing tone. "No one is going to get out of here **alive**!"

Suddenly Beetlejuice grabbed Lydia by the right hand and said to her, "Come on, we gotta fly." The two of them then lifted off and flew through the hallway. They didn't get far when a lightning bolt came in from behind them and struck the wall to their right side. "Whoa!" the two of them exclaimed at the same time. Beetlejuice looked behind, to see where that bolt of lightning came from, only to see the queen using her wings made of mist to chase them at a good clip. "We gotta get out of here." He thought to himself. He located the nearest window and flew out of it and down alongside the castle walls, Naria right behind them. The enraged queen continued to throw lightning bolts at the two of them when Lydia began to speak, "Although I know I should be weary." She blurted out in a mild panic. "What are you doing?" Beetlejuice interrupted. "The guardian ghost thing." She answered.

Suddenly, from out of one of the walls of the castle, a sand worm erupted, catching Lydia in its jaws and snatching her right out of Beetlejuice's hands. However, something was slightly off. The moment the creature's teeth got within five feet of Lydia's face, they were stopped cold by and invisible force and Lydia was encased inside a protective sphere of sorts. Shortly after the beast had snagged Lydia, another lightning bolt zoomed in and struck the sand worm in the back, causing it to drop Lydia so Beetlejuice could grab her once again. Beetlejuice then landed on the ground and they both began running as fast as they could away from the castle. Lydia continued as sand soldiers gathered together, firing crimson arrows and throwing crimson spears at the two partners. "Although I know I should be weary." She blurted out running as fast as she could, the spears and arrows missing her and bouncing off of her protective bubble. Beetlejuice nimbly dodged and avoided the crimson weapons all together. "This again? Keep going." He yelled to her. "Still I venture someplace scary!" Lydia added with her voice raised and in a slight panic. "Ok, good, good." Beetlejuice said trying to encourage her to complete the chant. "Ghostly haunting, I turn loose." She screamed while the rain of arrows and spears continued. "Who do you know that had a name that rhymes with 'loose'?" Beetlejuice thought to himself. "Beetlejuice!" Lydia called out. Suddenly it clicked in, "What?" Beetlejuice said in surprise. "Beetlejuice!" Lydia repeated. "Hey!" Beetlejuice called out to stop her. However, it was too late. "Beetlejuice!" Lydia repeated the last time. And with that, the two of them vanished in a flash of light just before two crimson spears about plunged through Beetlejuice's head and back. Instead, they harmlessly stuck into the ground. Wrought with anger and frustration, Naria screamed at the top of her lungs at her loss.

The feeling of connecting to a guardian ghost was surreal. Ease and serenity washed over Lydia's mind and body and she found herself being propelled through a great series of different doors that simply automatically opened when the two got close enough. First door was a rising gate that had a skull shaped archway. The second was a cave opening that had a great many spider webs in it. The third was a wooden archway that had two double doors swing open. The fourth was a simple set of skull and bone curtains that parted. The last door resembled the closet door of Lydia's room in her new house. The door burst open and the two fell to the wooden ground.

Lydia stood up with a shot upon realizing that she was back in her new room. Panting and nearly out of breath, she smiled upon seeing the worn furniture and the dirty old mattress. Her smile faded however, when she laid her eyes upon Beetlejuice and simply saw him knelt down on all fours, looking around in bewilderment. "Thanks for nothing." Lydia said still trying to catch her breath. "What do ya mean? I only saved your life." Beetlejuice retorted, he too still trying to catch his breath. "If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place." Lydia stated, shoving her face within inches from Beetlejuice's. "Yah, you probably would have been worse off. Not everyone in the Neitherworld is so trustworthy." Beetlejuice told her. Lydia stood up straight and retorted, "Yah, I noticed", referring to Beetlejuice. The only thing Beetlejuice could think of to come back to that was, "Ouch."

"Lydia?" Her mother's voice called from the other side of the door. "What in the world was **that**?" Beetlejuice asked pressing his hands against his ears, suggesting that Delia's voice could make a person go deaf. "My stepmom! You need to hide!" Lydia panicked. No matter how much she wanted to tell someone about her adventure, she realized that there was no way that any one would believe her. So the best logical choice would be to hide and act like everything was normal. Beetlejuice looked around as fast as he could to find a place to hide when he dashed into the closet and morphed himself into a hideous looking doll. Lydia slammed the door shut and tried to make her way to the room's door when Delia turned the knob and pushed the door open by herself. Lydia straightened up with her gaze toward her stepmother and grinned. "I just wanted to you to know that your father and I have called a few repair men and exterminators. They should be here within a few hours. You should check and see if any of this furniture could be salvaged, and move that old mattress out into the front yard where it can be picked up for trash." Delia said to her. Lydia let her grin fade and said to her stepmother, "Yes mam." "Oh, and you have school in two weeks so remind me to purchase a school uniform for you." Delia added. "Speaking of uniforms..." Lydia remembered the Spider Silk she wore in the Neitherworld. When she checked her outfit, she was wearing the very clothes she had on before she was pulled into the Neitherworld. Mesh sleeves that wrapped around her thumb, a long black shirt with a deep purple scarf wrapped around the waist making it look similar to a medieval tunic and faded gray Capri pants with black loafers. "Huh?" She gasped. "What happened to the Spider Silk?"

A couple of hours later, Lydia had just finished polishing up and restoring the furniture in her room, Beetlejuice trying to help out by dusting near the ceiling. "Tell me again how this guardian ghost thing is supposed to work." Lydia asked him. "It's fairly easy of a concept. We are bonded together for eternity. If you die, then I am erased from existence, and if I am erased from existence, so are you. It's **my** job now to protect you from harm." He answered. "Great, I have a con artist for a bodyguard." Lydia retorted to herself. "Hey, are you ever gonna let me live that down?" He said with a little bit of offence in his voice. "You're gonna have to **earn** my trust now Beetlejuice." She snidely said to him. Beetlejuice sighed and simply floated there near the ceiling for a bit when they heard a knock on the door. Beetlejuice quickly morphed back into the hideous doll and placed himself back into the closet. Lydia then turned the door knob and opened the door. There standing in the door frame, stood a man in a one piece work uniform that was a simple gray color with a name tag on the left breast that read, "Smith" on it. "I'm gonna fumigate the house now, mam. You might wanna join your folks outside." He said. "Oh, ok." Lydia said. She dashed to the closet to fetch the Beetlejuice doll and met her folks outside. The men began working on repairing and fumigating the house, each with a heavy duty respirator strapped to their face. In the mean time, the Deetz's took refuge in a nearby hotel for the next week.

End of Episode 4


	5. Episode 5 School Bells

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 5: School Bells**

Lydia's alarm sounded off at around seven, fifteen in the morning on her first day of school. Two weeks in living in Peaceful Pines and she had already gotten used to living with a guardian ghost. Beetlejuice was often kept on the top shelf of the closet while he slept in the form of the hideous doll.

Lydia sat up in her bed and stretched her arms out to the sides, and allowed her sleep to drain out of her body and allow the sunlight to soak in. She shifted her legs to the right side of her bed and stood up while continuing to stretch. She then made her way toward the window and pulled the curtains open. As the sunlight poured in through the window of their newly repaired and refurbished house, the details of her decorations came more into view. Her curtains were made from a dark fabric in a similar design to the Spider Silk. She painted the walls with a light gray tone to keep with her dark theme and yet please her stepmother's cheery personality. She decorated her bed with an overhang similar to her window curtains. Her bed sheets were dark violet colored with a matching set of four pillows. Her furniture she had spent the better part of three days polishing, re-staining and repairing. The plain design of the original furniture she thought made a perfect addition to her décor so she decided to keep it all.

"Beetlejuice, stay in the closet. Today's my first day of school and I don't want you messing it up." She called to the hideous doll just waking up from inside the closet. "School, huh?" He thought to himself as he listened to Lydia fumble through some drawers to locate her uniform. It was a pretty simple outfit, a gray button-up blouse coupled with a navy blue neck tie and knee length skirt. She also had navy blue long socks and black slip-on shoes. She tied her hair up in her usual fashion with her biological mother's ribbon, lined her eyes with her favorite dark purple eye liner and grabbed her books as she dashed out the door. She made her way down stairs to join her parents for breakfast, where her father had cooked scrambled eggs with mushrooms. Perhaps not her favorite meal, but she was glad that her stepmother wasn't cooking today. The last thing she wanted during her first day of school was indigestion. She wasn't particularly excited about her first day of school, but she was raised to give things a chance before making her final decision. So, she hopped that it would go well.

She finished breakfast, gathered her bags and made sure she put on a blue hooded cloak before hoping onto her navy blue bicycle. Since their house was located on top of a large hill, it was fairly easy to bike ride down to her new high school, Pineberry High. It was just too bad that the school required uniforms. She arrived at the front gates of the white bricked building around eight fifteen and marveled at its odd elegance. The entry hall alone was nearly as big as her house. The rest of the building branched off to both sides and was also almost three times as large as the entry hall. A large brass bell was placed in an opening near the top of the entryway as well. The actual school had a tall white brick wall with a metal gate in the middle of it. The rest of the school grounds were fenced off by a wire-chain fence.

Lydia walked her bike forward and crossed into the school courtyard where a seemingly endless sea of grass with a few trees planted here and there for shade awaited her, as well as did large groups of students wearing similar uniforms both boys and girls. As she looked around she noticed some students acting as couples, groups of friends of around four or more students at once, and even some students conversing with young teachers about their weekends. Lydia led her bike toward the bike rack near the right side of the school entrance doors, turned her backpack from underneath her blue cloak so that it was resting on her stomach, opened one of the pockets of the backpack, reached inside and pulled out a "u" shaped bike lock. She then locked up her bike, put the key inside her backpack and proceeded to enter the school before the bell rang. Unfortunately it wasn't going to happen that way. A group of three tall boys with broad shoulders approached her and blocked her path. The three boys all had large grins stretched across their faces, each chuckling to themselves.

Lydia sort of knew what was in store for her. "Hey guys." She said to them with sarcasm and defense leaking out of her mouth. The boy in the middle was dusty-blond with a foe-hawk and sharp light blue eyes. The boy to Lydia's left had black hair that he kept long enough to cover his eyebrows, but short enough to see his dark brown eyes. The boy to Lidia's right was a Spanish-looking boy with black, curly hair and hazel eyes. The blond boy spoke first. "Lookie here guys. Looks like we found us a transfer student." He said to the others. He seemed to be the leader of the other two. His voice was even and flowed like a dream, but was dripping with mischief and mal-intent. The Spanish boy spoke second, "She's kinda cute aint she amigos?" He clearly had that Spanish/Mexican accent to him. The third boy with the longer hair spoke next, clear mal-nourishment of the brain showing through in his words. "Yah" he laughed, "What are we gonna do next?" He then added as he scratched his head with the first finger of his right hand. "You blokes will do nothing." A smooth, melodic voice stated from behind the thugs. The voice sounded like it had a bit of an Australian accent to it and was even and smooth.

The three boys turned around to look at the one who acted superior to them. He was no taller than Lydia and had a medium build to his physique. The boy had bright blond hair that was cut short and pulled forward with short sideburns. He also had bright green eyes that shone even with his dusty brown eyebrows lowered in a serious defensive look. His uniform was the same as the rest of the male students of the school, a white button-up shirt with a navy blue neck tie and dark gray Dockers with black dress shoes. The boy was leaning against a nearby tree and staring at the older boys with just his right eye.

The blond boy from the group began walking up to the new "upstart" with the intention of "teaching him a lesson" surging through his mind. "Just who do you think you're talking to, little..." Just as he was about to put his hand on the shoulder of the Australian boy, the Australian boy ducked down quickly and embedded the palm of his right hand into the blond boy's stomach. The strike had enough force to send the blond boy flying around seven feet backward before skidding to a stop in another three feet. Almost instantly he fell unconscious. And the other two boys looked on in wonder and amazement at the Australian boy's strength. "You think you're tuff, don't you amigo?" The Spanish boy said while cracking his knuckles and walking up to the new kid. Lydia simply watched as the Spanish boy clenched a fist and thrust it toward the Australian boy with the intent of burying in his face. She barely saw the Australian boy move as he caught the Spanish boy's fist and tossed him like a rag doll behind himself. The Spanish boy flew around five or six feet before landing on his back and losing his breath. The boy with the long hair looked at his two friends, shifting his head back and forth between the two of them. He then turned his gaze to the Australian boy, whom he saw simply cracking his knuckles. The boy with the long hair then stepped back once in slight fear and ran away, leaving the other two behind.

"Not as dumb as ya made yourself out to be, huh?" The Australian boy said as the boy with the long hair ran off. "You alright there miss?" He then asked, turning to look at Lydia. She lightly blushed upon looking at his fair completion. His face was nearly as flawless as her own and he had a handsome smile and a decent tan as well. "Y...yah, I am. Thanks." Lydia said. "No worries." The boy said to her. Just then the school bell began to ring. Not the bell on the top of the school entrance hall, but a bell system from inside the building. This indicated that class was about to start and they needed to get moving. "Lady's first." The boy said to her. "What's your name?" Lydia asked. "You can call me Ben." He said as he introduced himself to her. "Lydia" She said to him, quickly introducing herself. "Well, we'd better get moving. Don't wanna be late for our first day of school." Ben said to her and then dashed off to find his homeroom. Lydia was left standing in the hallway blushing and thinking about her rescuer. She then snapped back to reality and realized that she was about to be late, so she ran down the halls to find her homeroom as fast as she could.

Lydia had barely made it to her homeroom before the bell sounded off once again. Nervous, she gripped the round knob of the door and turned it until the latch in the inside of the frame clicked, telling Lydia that the door was ready to be opened. She slowly pulled the door open to reveal her new classroom. It was average sized with bright white painted walls, there was a bright green chalk board located at the front of the class room with her teacher located just in front of it introducing a familiar face to the class. "Ben?" Lydia thought to herself. Even though she was surprised, she was also relieved that she had at least one person that she knew even remotely in her homeroom, let alone the school. The teacher sent Ben to his seat near the back of the class. Lydia noticed that there was still one seat open sitting to Ben's right. The seats were arranged in rows of five and columns of six. To the far wall of the class from where she stood, a short book case followed the white wall with large windows just above the book case. A set of cupboards followed the wall at the back of the classroom and the wall, that the door was connected to, had many different paintings hung up on it. Apparently her homeroom doubled up as the art room. The teacher was a woman in her mid twenties and was fairly beautiful. She was brunette and kept her hair to the middle of her back. She also seemed like around a mere two inches taller than Lydia. She wore a velvet colored skirt with a bright violet colored button-up blouse, her blue eyes contrasted against her almost entirely purple outfit and her voice reminded Lydia of Sierra from the Neitherworld.

"You must be Lydia Deetz." She said to her. "Y...yes mam." Lydia responded nervously. The teacher motioned with her left hand for Lydia to enter the class room. "Well, come in. No need to be shy." Lydia then bashfully made her way into the classroom, knowing full well that she was most likely being judged with every step she took. She made her way to the teacher, stopped in front of her and turned to face the rest of the class. "Please introduce yourself to the class." The teacher said kindly to her. Lydia took a deep breath to calm down as much as she could and then spoke, "My name is Lydia Deetz. I am sixteen years old and I like to draw." "And where did you just move from?" The teacher asked. "Portland, Oregon mam." Lydia answered rather formally. A few of the students began to chuckle for no good reason than at Lydia's formality towards the teacher. A small amount of hope left her soul at that moment as the turned her gaze toward the floor. The teacher gazed at the students with an evil glare and the chuckling died down rather quickly. "We'll seat you next to Ben." The teacher thought out loud. The moment Lydia heard his name she began to slightly blush once more. "Y...yes mam." She said and then briskly walked over to the desk next to him, placing her bag on the desks right side hook and ignoring the evil glares from one particular blond girl sitting in the front of the class. "Clare Brewster, look this way please." The teacher asked her. "Yes mam." The girl said quickly and with slight embarrassment. She almost instantly turned forward and straightened up. The rest of the class began to chuckle and laugh at Clare's little bit of humiliation.

"If we are done laughing at each other, let's get back to today's lesson. For those of you who don't know, my name is Amelia Anderson. And I'll be your homeroom teacher for the year. I'd appreciate it if you would use your homeroom period to study and complete any homework you have from other classes." The entire class spoke in unison, "Yes mam."

The next half hour passed by as if it took an entire year. Lydia spent most of the time in her sketch book drawing things that passed through her mind. Most of the time, she spent thinking of her mother and her friend Sierra. Both of whom gave their lives to protect her. She found herself drawing various pictures of their faces and even shedding a tear every once in a while.

The bell to proceed to the next class suddenly sounded off startling Lydia from her longing day dream. "Well, Lydia. I'll be off to me next class then. Where are you headed off to?" Ben asked her. Lydia then dug through her back pack and pulled out her schedule and read her next class out loud. "I'm headed to Algebra 1 right now." She said to her first and only friend in the school so far. "Hey, me too." Ben stated pulling out **his** schedule and gazing at it. Lydia leaned over to look at Ben's schedule and compared it to hers. She then noticed that their schedules were exactly the same. Baffled, she looked at Ben with a surprised look on her face until he spoke in a completely different voice. A voice she knew well and didn't want to hear at all. "Looks like we'll be studying together!" Beetlejuice said to Lydia. "You?" Lydia gasped. Realizing that his voice slipped back to his original, Beetlejuice slapped his hands over his mouth, looking sheepish and embarrassed. Lydia looked around to see if any of the other students were staring at her, and sure enough, Clare Brewster was still giving Lydia death glares. Clare looked like a pompous rich snob with her golden blond hair. Her bangs were pulled across her forehead and back behind her right ear and the hair on the top of her head was parted on the left side. She didn't exactly keep her hair very long though. It was simply down to her shoulders and curled upward at the ends. She lined her eyes with a kind of pink eye liner that brought out her baby blue eyes. She also lined her lips with a bright pink gloss and seemed angry with Lydia about something. "We'll talk about this later." Lydia huffed and then stormed out the class room door.

Realizing that he blew his cover, Beetlejuice mentally kicked himself over and over until Clare finally approached him. "So, like, what's up with that girl? Who does she think she is?" She asked him. Ben simply raised his right eyebrow to her. "And you are?" He asked slightly confused. "Clare Brewster, the most popular girl in school. Stick with me and, like, you can't go wrong." She said flirtatiously batting her eyes at him. "Uh, right. I'll, uh, catch ya later then." Ben then said both confused and scared. He then gently moved Clare to one side and walked out the door after Lydia.

The rest of the classes before lunch turned out to be a kind of drag for the both of them. Lydia disappointed that Beetlejuice would ruin her day like this and Ben for having Lydia simply give him the cold shoulder. When Lunch finally came, the two of them sat at one of the round tables to the left of the doorway. The lunch room was fairly large and was divided into two sections. One was the main cafeteria, which was an incredibly large room with long rectangular tables and benches lined up on its right side and the other side open for the lunch line. The other section was the dining area for the concession stand. This was where all of the round tables and blocky, plastic chairs were placed.

Lydia sat at the table first and simply began to sulk at how her day was being destroyed by her so-called guardian ghost. Ben then sat next to her left side and began to speak. "You know I'm not the one ruining your day, right?" He said to her slightly frustrated. She looked at him like he had just insulted her intelligence. "I came with you hoping to learn more about your world and to do my job as your guardian ghost. You may not like me as Beetlejuice, but at least be friends with Ben Juice." He paused for a moment and then said, "I also hope to make it up to you for my mistake." He hoped that would soften her up just a little bit. Lydia thought about how her day had been going and realized that he actually didn't do anything **to **ruin her day. It was her brooding that caused her to think that her day was destroyed. She turned to him and said, "Fine, I'll give you a chance. That doesn't mean that I trust you." "Now that that little matter is settled", Ben said back in his Australian voice, "Looks like we've got company." Lydia looked behind her and saw to girls standing there. One was tall and skinny, about five foot eleven, with a decently clear overbite with bucked teeth. She also had dirty blonde hair that covered her right eye as it draped down in front of her. Her eyes were a dark brown and she displayed an almost pasty complexion. Her physique was greatly diminished as well, like she didn't get too much exercise. Standing next to her was a short girl, about four foot one, with a bright cheery smile, dusty brown hair and hazel colored eyes that were covered by large round glasses. "We were wondering if we could join you." The tall girl said. Her voice had a slight lisp to the sound of her "C's" and it nearly sounded like a click. "No worries. Knock yourselves out." Ben said to them. The two sat down at the table, the tall one near Ben and the short one near Lydia. It was quite the odd thing to look at since the short girl barely was able to look over the edge of the table. She was the one to introduce herself first. "Hi, I'm Prudence Copperton, my friend here is Bertha Hennings." Prudence's voice was high and slightly nasally, her head looked slightly elongated and her hair was in the shape of an up-side-down tulip.

"Hello, I'm Lydia Deetz." Lydia said. "Benjamin Allan Juice. Pleasure ta make your acquaintance." Ben said to Bertha. "Do you wanna be friends?" Bertha blurted out. Lydia and Ben then looked at each other in shock, and then turned to look at the two girls. "Yah that would be nice." Lydia said. "No qualms here. Why not?" Ben responded. The four students chatted it up for the rest of the lunch period getting to know each other better, Lydia ignoring the continued piercing gaze of Clare from a preppy table just across the room. Lydia had learned that Prudence was a book worm with an eidetic memory and Bertha was a table-top game fanatic, her favorite game being one that had taken the country by storm nearly the moment it had been released called Drakenfield. She also learned that Beetlejuice had set up a cover story of his own. His grandfather was a true outdoorsman and built a cottage in the middle of a forest on the far right side of town, and **that** is where he lives now.

Ben finally noticed that Clare was giving Lydia death glares and decided to ask, "What is Clare doing? Why is she staring at you?" Lydia turned around to look at what Ben was talking about and suddenly felt the piercing gaze from the girl. "I think it might have something to do with the way you look." She responded cringing in fear. Ben looked himself over and asked in confusion, "What's wrong with the way I look?" "No I think she has a crush on you, and with you hanging out with me so much she might be getting jealous." Lydia answered him. Ben simply slapped his left hand to his forehead and sighed. Suddenly, a massive hand snagged Ben from the back of his shirt and yanked him out of his chair. Before he even had a chance to respond, a tanned white fist just lodged itself deep into his stomach, driving the wind out of him. The moment it happened, Lydia felt her stomach tighten up and her breath suddenly escaped from her lungs for no apparent reason. While Lydia leaned forward gripping her cramping stomach, Ben dropped to his knees and supported himself with his left arm while gripping his pained stomach with his right. He was coughing and trying desperately to catch his breath.

The pain in Lydia's stomach didn't last too long, it had gone away in a few seconds and she was able to look up at Ben's assailants. She saw the tree boys that "greeted" her in front of the school before the first class. "That's for this morning, punk!" The boy with the blond hair said. The boy with the long hair simply laughed. "Hah...uh, what'd he do again?" He asked. "He totally owned us, amigo. And it's time we taught him who runs this school!" The Spanish boy remarked. "Actually the school is technically run by..." Prudence began to say but the blond boy interrupted her. "Shut up 'Prune'!" He scoffed at her. Afraid for her own safety, Prudence stopped talking and sank even farther under the table than normal. In fact, she pretty much disappeared from view.

With Ben gasping for air and holding his aching stomach, the three boys began kicking him in the sides. Somehow, Lydia also felt sharp fleeting pain in her sides the moment their feet connected with Ben's ribs. They continued kicking him for some time until the lunch bell sounded off. Then the three boys simply walked off laughing and congratulating each other on their recent "victory". The pain in Lydia's sides faded as quickly as it came and she realized at the new condition of her guardian ghost. "Ben!" She called and stood up quickly to get to his side as quick as possible. Bertha and Prudence quickly joined her and Lydia pulled Ben's right arm around her shoulder to act as a support to lead him to the nurse's office. Bertha joined Lydia and supported Ben by his chest and his back and walked with Lydia while Prudence moved quickly to hold any doors open for them and lead them to the nurse's office.

Ben opened his eyes an hour later with Lydia sitting next to him, reading a small book. He began to groan from the tightness in his ribs and stomach. When Lydia heard this she was startled from her book and turned her attention to her guardian ghost. "What hit me?" Ben finally asked. "It was those three bullies from this morning. Apparently their names are Adrian Ruitman, Michael Slazo, and José Quierra." Lydia informed him referring to the blond boy, the dumb boy, and the Spanish boy in order. Ben sighed and finally said, "They really roughed me up one, didn't they?" "The strange thing is...I felt it too." Lydia admitted. Ben just sat there, baffled for a short moment until the nurse walked through the door. "Oh, the young man's finally awake." Her voice was light and knowledgeable. However, she looked no more than eighteen or twenty. She wore a long white lab coat over her pale yellow skirt and white blouse. She had short blond hair and bright brown eyes that almost resembled gold.

"You should get to class Miss Deetz." The nurse kindly said to Lydia. "Ok. I'll pick up any homework for you. Ok, Ben?" Lydia told him. Ben simply laid his head back and sighed, "Yah, no worries. Thank you Lydia." And so she did. Ben stayed in the nurse's office for the remainder of class and Lydia acquired any homework the teacher had given out. The four friends met outside the school after the final bell rang. They bid each other farewell for the day and Lydia walked her guardian ghost back to her home. Beetlejuice decided to transform back into the hideous doll half way there while no one was in sight, making it easier for Lydia to walk both him and her bike back home.

End of Episode 5


	6. Episode 6 Into the Game

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

_Author's Notes: Drakenfield is actually a fictional game that I came up with myself. (Mostly to avoid lawsuits, but the concept seemed better the more I worked on it.) If anyone is interested in its concept, I am currently working on an actual rule book for references._

**Episode 6: Into the Game**

The next day of school and both Lydia and Ben had begun to dread the outcome. However, they made their way to the school grounds anyway. Something was slightly different though when they arrived. The three bullies were nowhere to be seen. They cautiously made their way through the school's front courtyard and somehow made it to the entrance without any confrontations. Lydia locked up her bike and the two met both Bertha and Prudence inside. The two girls were watching through a window near the principal's office. "Hey Bertha. Hi Prudence. What's going on?" Lydia asked. Prudence turned to look at Lydia with a big smile on her face. "Shh. We turned the three bullies in to the principal anonymously. That way, they have no idea who turned them in." "Great idea. But what if they go on a 'revenge hunt'?" Lydia asked. She knew all too well what that feels like when the school bully get's turned in to the principal and immediately assumes it to be one of the new kids. The two girls looked at each other and realized what they might have set in motion. "We didn't think of that. Sorry Lydia." Prudence said lowering her head in shame. "Let's just avoid them and meet each other at lunch." Lydia said to them slightly worried about hurting their feelings.

Class was pretty uneventful. The teachers gave small lectures and passed out homework and it was lunch time before any of them knew where the time had gone. Lydia and Ben were the first ones to arrive at the table that the four had meet at yesterday. Bertha and Prudence arrived shortly thereafter with smiles on their faces. Prudence sank into the chair at Lydia's left and Bertha sat on Prudence's left, towering over the pint-sized girl. "Boy do we have some ironic news for you guys." Bertha spouted off the moment she sat down. "Apparently, this wasn't the first time they were caught beating someone up, and the principal suspended all three of them." Prudence informed her new friends happily. Ben simply looked at Prudence with his right eyebrow raised. "What does that mean?" He then asked. Bertha and Prudence stared at him wondering if he was even human. "It means that they pretty much aren't allowed back as school for a while." Lydia informed him. "Oh." Ben gestured. "Honestly, are you sure you've been to the United States before?" Prudence asked. "Only on vacations with me mum and pop. And that was back when I was a wee thing." Ben answered hovering his hand over the linoleum floor of the cafeteria around six or eight inches shorter than Prudence. "So, how did they handle school bullying back in Australia?" Bertha asked. Thinking quickly, Ben came up with an answer. "They didn't much. Most folks either dealt with it by themselves or you at least had a mate that could get bullies off of your back." "No wonder, you were able to take out those bullies yesterday morning." Bertha said in awe. "Exactly, how many people saw?" Ben asked curious. "Over half of the entire school saw your 'grand entrance'." Prudence informed him.

"And that means that, like, you can make much better friends then these three losers." Clare's voice came from behind Ben. Before he could turn around she quickly leaned forward to look him straight in his eyes. "Just so you know, we may not have too many sports programs, and the coaches, like, suck anyway, but all of the sports captains will be approaching you today to invite you onto their teams. Kay?" She informed him. And with that, she straightened herself back to a full standing position, and walked away from the group, making sure to make herself look attractive enough to likely place the thoughts of dating her in Ben's mind. When she was outside of earshot, Ben turned back to his friends and asked, "What was that all about?" "That's Clare Brewster, the richest and most popular girl in school." Bertha informed him. "Yah, I know that, but what was that she said about being invited to the school teams?" He asked confused. "Have you ever played sports?" Prudence asked. "Baseball and a little bit of your American football. But, that's it." Ben admitted to them. Lydia was surprised that Beetlejuice knew what sports even were, let alone identify two of them.

The rest of school was pretty uneventful, except for the random jocks and sports captains randomly approaching Ben and making fun of Lydia. The four friends parted ways after lunch and continued on with their classes. At the end, the final bell rang and a mass of students flooded out of the doors, excited for their little bit of freedom. Ben had turned down every one that approached him, especially when they made fun of Lydia. Lydia and Ben met each other at the school entrance and started walking back to her house when Bertha and Prudence caught their attention. "Ben! Lydia! Wait!" Prudence called out to them. The pair turned around to see both their friends in a hurry to catch up with them, neither one in much physical shape. When Bertha and Prudence caught up with the duo, they were out of breath and held their bodies up by placing their hands on their knees and bracing the weight. "Bertha... wants... to know... if you two... would... like to learn... to play... Drakenfield." Bertha seemed slightly shy and bashful about asking so Prudence blurted it out in between inhales. The request seemed kind of abrupt and slightly strange to both Lydia and Ben and they looked at each other in slight confusion. When they turned back to look at their exhausted friends, Ben simply asked, "What's Drakenfield?"

Bertha looked at Ben like she thought he was from another planet. Prudence straightened up and held out her hand to Bertha. "Pay up!" She lightly demanded to her friend. Bertha straightened herself up and, looking slightly disappointed, pulled out a single green bill and passed it to Prudence who then promptly shoved it into the pocket of her navy blue uniform vest. Lydia turned to Ben and informed him, "It's a widely popular card game. I've seen advertisements for it just about everywhere, but I've never played it myself." "It's pretty easy to figure out." Bertha stated. "Please?" Lydia finally gave in to her new friend's plea. "Ok, fine. We'll try it out." She said signaling toward Ben. He straightened up with surprise and questioned, "We will?" "Yes, we will." Lydia scoffed, letting him know that he wasn't escaping from this.

They agreed to travel to Lydia's house since both Bertha and Prudence lived on the other side of town and her house was the closest one available. Lydia walked in through the front door and called out, "Hi dad. I'm home." Delia was there to greet her, "Lydia are these your friends?" She asked delighted. "Yes mam." Lydia answered Delia. She then shifted her hand to introduce them in turn, "This is Bertha Hennings, Prudence Copperton, and Ben Juice." "Wonderful!" Delia smiled widely with glee that her step-daughter was making friends so easily. "Would any of them like one of my cookies?" Both Bertha and Prudence were about to take Delia up on that offer until Lydia answered quickly for them. "That's ok mam, we're not hungry right now." She said slightly nervous, turning her friends around and herding them upstairs to her room. "We'll be down if we need anything." "What was that all about Lydia?" Prudence asked. Lydia's response was, "Trust me. You don't wanna try my step-mom's cooking...ever!" Suddenly Delia's voice could be heard from down stairs, "Are you sure they don't want to have a cinnamon sugar cookie with peanut butter fudge?" Prudence asked with slight hesitation and worry, "She means separate... right?" "No, mam. Not right now." Lydia called to Delia and then turned to Prudence and said, "No, baked together." Prudence tried to wrap her head around the concept of cinnamon, sugar and peanut butter in a single fudge cookie and almost hurt herself in the process. "Yuck!" She then exclaimed while sticking out her tongue. "My thoughts exactly." Lydia retorted. She then opened the door to her room for her friends.

Inside Lydia watched as Bertha opened her back pack and pulled out two six inch tall by twelve inch long cards with grid patterns of one inch by one inch squares. Five squares tall by ten squares wide the grid was and each card had picture backgrounds of land masses looking at them from the sky. One looked like a graveyard and the other looked like the inside of a darkened castle. Words were written in the space beneath the grid as the top row of squares met at the top edge. Bertha then reached inside once again and brought out two decent sized pencil boxes and placed them on the floor. One pencil box had a bright vibrant green color to the top and dark violet to the bottom and the other pencil box had a lilac color to its top and a navy blue bottom. She then reached back into her back pack and pulled out two decks of cards, the card backs were blackish-blue with a white European dragon symbol circling the center of the card. In the dragon's claws, it held a large ten point star shape. Bertha quickly organized everything she had brought by looking at the bottom card of each deck and separating the two larger cards to pair with the decks. She then opened the green and purple box and inside was small plastic figurines of all shapes and sizes. Each figurine was no more than an inch and a half tall and each was intricately painted. "Alright, Ben you get to use the Zombie deck and Lydia, you use the Dark Castle deck." Bertha announced. Neither of them knew what the heck that even meant and simply picked up the items Bertha placed in front of them as she spoke.

"This is your field card." Bertha announced as she lifted up the larger card and showed them both sides. She had lifted up the card that had the graveyard painting on it and when she showed them the reverse side, it was simply plain white with the words "Neutral Grounds" printed just beneath the grid. "This is where most of the actual playing is done. When you play a card it usually designates a target on these cards. Each field card only makes up half of the board game though." As she spoke she picked up the second field card and matched the two grids up to make a ten square by ten square grid pattern. Bertha then pulled out a small black cloth bag from her back pack and dumped out a series of small, colorful fish bowl stones, each transparent and rounded. There could have easily been over a hundred of them.

Ben studied the "Graveyard" card that Bertha handed him. In the lower left of the card, located under the lowest set of squares was the number sixteen with a star symbol just before it. Located to the right of that was a box with the letters D and E in it. Located to that text box's right was the card's name, "Graveyard". And finally to the right of the name were three text boxes side by side that had a combination of letters and numbers as if stating areas on the grid, one reading D4, one reading E4 and the third reading E8. "This is your magic level." Bertha said pointing to the number with the star symbol. "It pretty much manages your ability to use cards." Prudence just seemed to enjoy watching Bertha teach the rules of the game as she sat quietly and smiled. Suddenly the door to Lydia's room slowly creaked open and Charles Deetz poked his head in. Do any of your friends want to try my famous 'Perfect Strawberry Sundae'?" Lydia perked up and smiled big. "Yes please... and one for me too." She asked. "I'll be back in ten minutes." Charles said as he smiled and closed the door.

Bertha took that time to explain the card layouts to them and help them understand what the different numbers meant. The creature cards had a series of numbers located along the right side of the entire card indicating the creatures summoning cost, its attack power, its endurance its number of spaces it can move each turn, and the fact that the creatures help you recharge your magical power each turn according to another number. She also explained the other aspects about the cards like its element symbol and its text box at the bottom. She began explaining the aspects of a card type called a spell card when Charles walked back in with ice cream sundaes made in treat cups like you would see in those fancy restaurants. It was vanilla ice cream each topped with light chocolate drizzle and six strawberry halves in a ring with an inner ring of four strawberry halves. It also looked like he dropped on a pinch of sugar on top of the strawberries to sweeten them. Lydia quickly stood up to help her father hand out the treats. "Here you guys go. You've got to try this." She announced with enthusiasm. "My dad makes the best sundaes." Each sundae had a spoon already inside the dish. Lydia handed the first one to Prudence and the next to Bertha. She then grabbed the last two from her father and handed one of them to Ben, she then turned around and gave her father a quick peck on the cheek and said, "Thanks dad. You're the best!" "I'll leave you to your game then." Charles said happily before he closed the door. Lydia was the first to dig the spoon into the ice cream and have a bite. She looked at her friends as they were simply looking over their treats until Lydia said to them, "Oh, come on! Try it." Bertha lightly dug her spoon into her sundae and brought out a scoop of vanilla with a strawberry half and placed the treat into her mouth. The sweet sensation of the strawberry washed over her taste buds while the vanilla flavor complimented the whole thing. "Wow!" She exclaimed. "That's amazing!" The rest of the group then began eating their treats. It seemed like Ben particularly enjoyed his. "Crikies, this is delicious! How did your pop do this?" He asked. "It's the one thing he picked up from my birth mother." She informed them lowering her eyes from the nostalgia. "I used to have these every time I accomplished something in my life. They are my favorite treat." Lydia then sat down back where she sat before, right in front of Ben. As they enjoyed their treats, Bertha continued to explain the aspects of the game, the different cards and the different rules involved.

"The way Drakenfield works is that you need to deplete your opponent's magic points. The way that happens is that when a creature is defeated in battle, any leftover attack points are transferred as damage to the player. Abilities of cards are designed to help this process along." Bertha explained as Ben and Lydia picked up the top six cards of their now fully shuffled decks. "So, you use magic points to summon creatures and use different cards, but if you run out, you lose?" Lydia reiterated. "Yep. You got it. Neat, huh?" Actually slightly intrigued by the game's basic concept, both Lydia and Ben then decided to decide to give it a real go and learn the strategy of their decks. Lydia took the first turn and summoned a card called Armored Spider. She placed the figure that resembled the picture the closest, and placed it in the second row and in the third square from the left.

Their game progressed with both Bertha and Prudence helping with coaching for a time. They both eventually discovered that the stronger creatures normally had stricter summoning conditions, such as specific squares that they are required to be in, or perhaps even requiring a creature of another name to appear first. Still they enjoyed the company and competitiveness of the slightly complex game. "Is it alright if Prudence and I ask your dad for another of those sundaes?" Bertha asked at one point. "Lydia thought about it for a few seconds and said, "I don't see anything wrong with it." Bertha then stood up and grabbed Prudence by the hand and led her out the door with Prudence raising her voice and asking, "Hey, what do you need **me** for?" "They need to get used to the game without us coaching them. Come on!" Was Bertha's response. When they left the room Lydia asked, "What do you think **that** was all about?" Ben answered, "Dunno, but I could really get into this game."

Suddenly their surroundings changed from Lydia's bed room, to a forested area with a four foot wide stream of crystal clear water just eight feet to Lydia's left. Lydia blinked twice and finally asked, "What just happened?" "I dunno." Beetlejuice replied. Suddenly he realized that he had automatically switched back to Beetlejuice and that Lydia's Armored Spider was standing next to her right side. Its abdomen alone was approximately a foot and a half wide and its legs stretched a good three and three quarter feet long. It was plated in black armor all along its back and had eight crimson red eyes. "Uh, Lyds... Don't look now, but I think your creature just came to life." He said to her as he simply stared at the giant spider. Lydia slowly turned to look in the direction that Beetlejuice was gawking at and saw the creature from the card that she had used earlier. She shrieked and stumbled to get to her feet and move away from the thing as fast as she could. Her shrieks scared the giant spider and it skittered away and behind the nearest large rock it could find, which was around ten feet away. I shyly did the best it could to make itself completely hidden form sight.

Calming down more, Lydia slowed her breathing from her sudden shock and started registering what in the world just happened. "Did I just frighten it?" She asked her guardian ghost. "I think it was more on the lines 'you frightened each other'." Beetlejuice corrected her, still flabbergasted. The spider peeked out of its hiding place slightly, still shy from its earlier shock. Then it seemingly decided to "test the waters" as it emerged and began approaching Lydia once again. "Try and reach out to it. It might be friendly." Beetlejuice said to her. Then he noticed something interesting, "You know you're wearing the spider silk, right?" He informed her. Lydia then shot her gaze to her own body and noticed that she was, in fact, wearing both the red poncho cloak and the black outfit she had from the Neitherworld. She then watched as the armored spider inched closer to Lydia to proceed to place its head against her hand. Its skin was soft and smooth, up until Lydia's hand began running over its cold, hard metal armor.

"What exactly is going on?" Lydia asked, thoroughly confused. "I think it's called 'literal translation'. Things I say have a chance of actually coming true. "So, 'literal translate' us out of here!" Lydia exclaimed. "How? I need to find the right saying or we might end up somewhere else we don't want to be." Beetlejuice explained. "So, then, where are we?" Lydia asked first looking back at the spider and then to her surroundings. "I think we were transported into the world created for the Drakenfield game." Beetlejuice guessed, also looking at their surroundings.

Suddenly, a loud crash came from a distance toward their left. In that direction was an entirely different land mass. It was a desert that led off into a volcanic region that then led to a cool beach and ocean. A small village was located to the left of the desert was a swamp with water that looked toxic and even acidic. A great many other land types surrounded them as well. Smoke billowed up from both a mountain region, just to the left of the desert, and the volcano in it's appropriate region. Another explosion erupted from the mountains, closer toward Lydia and Beetlejuice. Another series of explosions began to indicate that something **big** was headed their way.

The final explosion revealed a giant tunneling worm. As it surfaced, it let out a high pitched screech and opened its circular mouth, revealing its throat-full of pointed, sharp teeth. The creature had no eyes, but sported hair-like feelers dotted throughout its entire earth-toned body. "What the heck is **that**?" Beetlejuice asked in exclamation. "I don't know, but I'm not sticking around to find out." Lydia exclaimed in fear. The two of them then scrambled in the opposite direction of the creature. Lydia then stopped long enough to see her new spider companion crouch into a defensive position in order to protect them. "What's it doing?" Lydia panicked just as she watched the armored spider spat some webbing nets out of its mouth, located between its fangs, at the giant worm creature only to have its attention turned to it. The giant worm let out a high pitched screech just before plummeting its open tunnel-like mouth over the spider and devouring it as the worm burrowed back underground. At that moment, Lydia felt hundreds of sharp needles plunge through every inch of her body all at once. Screaming at the pain, she dropped to her knees and began hugging her arms. To Beetlejuice is simply felt like his body started tingling all over. "Oh, man!" Beetlejuice exclaimed, witnessing the demise of Lydia's creature. "It looks like when our creatures are destroyed, we take any remaining damage. Just like the game rules." He then added from his observation. "Yah, I'd hate to find out what happens when one of us looses." Lydia stated while standing up, still paining from the transfer. Suddenly an idea came to Lydia and she turned to Beetlejuice just as the worm creature turned its attention to the pair. "Say, 'I liked it better as just a game'." She said to him. "What? Why?" Beetlejuice asked with slight confusion. "Just say it." Lydia demanded just as the worm creature tunneled beneath the ground once more.

Silence fell so suddenly. It was quite eerie considering that the two realized that the worm creature was probably still around and hunting for them. They looked around in all directions to see if they could spot the creature moving away from them, with no such luck. Lydia then took one step backward when the ground underneath her began to shift and rumble. It soon began to bubble up and rise like cake batter, lifting Lydia up with it. She nearly fell off balance when the giant worm creature erupted from the shifting earth and caught Lydia as it emerged.

Once again, a mysterious force kept the worm from biting down into her pale flesh and devouring her. Protected for a while, Lydia screamed back to Beetlejuice, "Say it! Say it now!" Just before the worm creature swallowed her whole. Protected by her shield, she slid down the creature's throat, completely surrounded by sharp, pointed teeth the whole way to its stomach. She plunged into the acidic environment, her shield beginning to fade from existence. She screamed as loud as she could, believing that her life would soon end. Beetlejuice then closed his eyes and shouted, "I liked it better as just a game" three times. The worm creature then suddenly vanished and the two were returned to Lydia's bed room. Lydia returning to her world around one and a half feet in mid air, she simply dropped to the carpeted floor with a "thud".

Feeling the pain she felt when she hit the ground Beetlejuice rubbed his butt. "Ouch." They both groaned at the same time. "I gotta watch what I say." Beetlejuice said as he noticed white block-letters zoomed across the room, creating the exact sentence he just said. Lowering his eyebrows in frustration, he simply sighed, "Ho boy." "Speaking of 'boy', you should turn back into Ben before Bertha and Prudence get back. Just then, the door knob turned to its right and clicked, indicating that it would soon be pushed open. Beetlejuice quickly shifted his form to his younger counterpart and picked up his hand of cards. The door swung open and the two mismatched girls looked quite glum, despite holding another ice cream sundae each. "What's a matter with you two?" Ben asked slightly confused. "My dad wouldn't teach them his famous recipe." Lydia answered nonchalant. "I was hoping to replicate it, myself, when I got home." Prudence squeaked in her high pitched pouty voice, her eyebrows low with annoyance. Lydia and Ben simply looked at each other in slight confusion until Lydia began chuckling with laugher and amusement. Unable to hold it in, himself, Ben then joined her in laughter and they both rose to laughing out loud until tears began spilling from their tightly shut eyes. "It's **not** funny." Was all Prudence could say before shoving another delicious spoonful of vanilla ice cream in her mouth.

End of Episode 6


	7. Episode 7 The Big Rescue

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 7: The Big Rescue**

Lydia tossed and turned in her sleep. She dreamed about the three nameless prisoners in the dungeons of Naria's Castle. She dreamed of them helpless and alone. She dreamed of them suffering the same fate as her friend Sierra, the sand worms circling around them in an empty coliseum like sharks in the ocean. When one of the sand worms erupted from the ground to attack, Lydia shot awake with a scream. It was strange and foreign to her to dream of something other than her mother's demise, but she couldn't help but wonder what had happened to those three.

"Day-o. Me say day-o. The daylight come and me wan go home." Beetlejuice sang from inside the closet. "Why are you singing that?" Lydia asked slightly confused and annoyed. "It's pretty much the only song I know." Beetlejuice responded then continued humming to himself. Lydia first rolled her eyes at the mere thought of that and continued to sit up in bed thinking about the three prisoners that she had met in the dungeon. The worry and regret that she couldn't do much to help them pulled on her conscience tightly. "It's a good thing it's Saturday." She finally commented. Beetlejuice stopped humming and asked calmly, "Why's that?" He then resumed humming to himself. "Because we're going back to the Neitherworld." Lydia responded while slipping into her clothes while Beetlejuice wasn't looking. Beetlejuice hardly paid attention while Lydia spoke and nodded to himself, "Going back to the Neitherworld, right." Suddenly it clicked in to what she had just said and he froze. After a few seconds, he morphed back into his original form from the hideous doll he uses when staying in the closet. He burst from his hiding spot only to see Lydia sliding into her favorite long, dark violet shirt with a black mesh long-sleeved shirt under it. She wore faded black Capri pants to compliment the long dress-like shirt and tied a long, black cloth around her waist as a belt. She then slipped on some black loafer shoes and made her way to her guardian ghost.

"That's right, Beetlejuice. Back to the Nietherworld." She confidently stated. She then made her way over to her window, which was decorated with solid black curtains with random spider web designs on them, and slid her curtains closed. Near the window she kept a simple small round table with an oil lantern resting on top of its dark green table cloth. Hovering over it Lydia chanted, "Although I know I should be weary. Still I venture someplace scary. Ghostly haunting I turn loose Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice." She then chanted. As soon as Lydia finished saying Beetlejuice's name for the final time, Lydia's room began to quake and tremble. The two of them then watched as the violet wallpaper of Lydia's room began to tear away as if a mysterious force was literally trying to yank it off of the wall. Suddenly the contents of the bedroom were mysteriously sucked into the closet and reveal the eerie blue stone walls and floor. The ceiling of Lydia's room suddenly lifted away into a dark, overhead abyss as wooden beams erupted from select areas of the wall and embedded themselves straight across. The room then began to round itself into a circular pattern as a set of stone stairs pushed itself out and traveled upward, around a good sixteen feet, to an open door that seemed to lead back into Lydia's room from her closet. Another wooden, arched door was revealed as the bricks across from the bottom stair melted away like they were being eaten by acid. Just as the scenario was about to settle down, black bats came flitting down from the overhead blackness where the ceiling used to be located. Some of them clutched their feet to random support beams overhead and others flew down to greet the pair, getting within two feet of touching Lydia's head.

"Deadly Voo!" Lydia exclaimed in amazement as her clothes changed to the black, form fitting suit with the spider silk. "You got **that** right." Beetlejuice agreed, looking around at his new surroundings. The circular room was completely empty save-it-be a stone sculpture resembling a creepy old bed. Beetlejuice floated up to the overhead door to peek out and check if Lydia's parents were approaching. He then turned back to Lydia and said with sarcasm, "You don't suppose your parents should know where you're going?" Lydia thought about his statement for a few seconds and then responded, "You're right. I should let them know that I'm going out. I'm gonna go out the front door and make my way around the house and then you levitate me back through my window." Beetlejuice slapped himself in the forehead and complained, "What about your moral values?" "I'm not exactly lying if I just tell them I'm going 'out'." She delegated to hem nervously. She obviously wasn't letting him weasel his way out of the rescue. She dashed up the stone stairway, passed Beetlejuice, and proceeded with her plan. As she passed the thresh hold between her room and the stone room, her clothes shifted back to the outfit she had gotten dressed in when she woke up. Her plan couldn't have worked any better. She quickly packed a few things into her backpack and dashed out of her room. She quickly ran downstairs past her parents while she called to them quickly, "I'm going out for a while" and was out the door before either Charles or Delia could respond. "Where do you think she's off to?" Delia asked Charles. "Probably to one of her new friends' house. I think she's starting to like living here." He smiled.

Lydia silently and stealthily made her way back around to her bedroom window and called to Beetlejuice, "Float me back up there so we can get moving." "Give me one good reason why I should just let you go back to the Nietherworld." He argued in a loud whisper. Lydia then reached down and pinched her left side as hard as she could with a theory in mind. Her theory, if she could feel the pain Beetlejuice took from getting beaten by those bullies, he should feel her pain as well. And it worked, as she pinched her side and twisted the skin, Beetlejuice felt the insatiable shot of large needles shoot through his left side and gave in, "Ok, ok, ok! Fly on up here." With his saying, tiny bat wings sprouted from Lydia's back and began flapping, effectively lifting her up to the window. Once in, Lydia passed by Beetlejuice, who was still cringing at the pain he felt in his side, and entered back into the stone room in her closet.

As she passed through, once again, her outfit shifted back to the spider silk and black form fitting clothes she wore her first day in the Nietherworld. The duo then made their way back down the stone staircase and to the mystery door across from the stone bed. Lydia gazed upon the door with a slight amazement. The door was made from a dark colored wood and beheld an old medieval style door handle with an intricate carving of a bat as the latch release just above the handle. The door had no keyhole and opened easily as Lydia wrapped her fingers around the handle and used her thumb to slide the bat carving downward to release the latch. Once the latch released, there was a decently loud clunking noise that rang throughout the stone room and Lydia pulled slowly on the heavy wooden door, listening to the hinges creak and strain to simply hold the door up.

She stood there with the door open looking directly into a dismal barren land covered by a velvet mist about knee deep to Lydia. "There's a lot more mist here than last time." Lydia mentioned watching as the mist crawled into the stone room only to dissipate approximately three feet inside the room's interior. She stood there feeling the mist crawl over her legs and feet and listening intently for her guardian ghost's advice. "It means that Naria has been hard at work over her cauldron. There's only one way to completely neutralize the mist but no one knows what that is." He responded to her inquiry. "So why are we here?" He then added his own question. "We're here to rescue innocent lost souls from Naria's dungeons." Lydia informed him. "**What**?" Beetlejuice raised his voice in shock and annoyance. "I at least need to see if they are alright. I can't handle not knowing what happened to them anymore." Lydia said while looking around to see if the coast was clear for them to enter without being attacked. Seeing nothing, she felt it was safe to enter the Nietherworld and took two steps in and turned back to Beetlejuice. Noting that he refused to even move, she played on the guardian ghost pact. "Aren't you gonna come and protect me? If I die, we are both erased from existence you know." Beetlejuice looked at her like the things she said were rude and immature then took his own steps into the Nietherworld. Lydia watched as the door behind them closed itself and vanished into nothing.

"So, do you have a plan to get us into the dungeon without getting caught?" Beetlejuice asked Lydia. "First things first, we need a place to hide temporarily while we **make** that plan." Lydia noted still looking around. "You don't have one yet?" Beetlejuice asked, flabbergasted and dumbfounded. "It's not like I know the layout of the castle by memory. Nor do I know when they change the guard. We need someone who knows this stuff. How did you get in to fight the queen? How did you get in last time?" Lydia asked trying to prove her point. Beetlejuice thought to himself for a while and then answered Lydia's first question, "The first time I got in...I snuck in through an entryway from the canal under the castle, near the back walls." Listening to him Lydia suddenly formulated a quick plan. It wasn't fool proof by any means, but at least it was something. "Would that entryway be located near the dungeons by any chance?" She asked. "It's just under them. It runs the water for the entire castle." Was his answer. "How difficult is it to get through?" She then asked. Beetlejuice's eyes widened when he figured out what Lydia was getting at. "The water is fairly swift. Are you a decent swimmer?" Beetlejuice glared at her while answering her question. "Fairly decent. Let's just say, I'm not Olympic by any means." Was her answer. Beetlejuice raised his right eyebrow to her in slight confusion. "Just hang on to me then." Beetlejuice suggested.

Suddenly the sound of marching metal troops could be heard from a distance away. Beetlejuice grabbed Lydia by her left wrist and ran to a place he thought might be safe. Their surroundings were familiar with the dump of where Lydia had met Beetlejuice off to their right and a long blue colored apartment building just a few feet from there. It was the complex that Beetlejuice ran to with Lydia in tow. The two dashed into the building through the nearest door and Beetlejuice slammed the door behind him and locked it. Attempting to control their breathing, they made an effort to quiet down and hide from the guards. "This was the last thing we needed." Lydia whispered to Beetlejuice as they hid behind the only bed in the room. The sound of bronze metal shifting and clanking against itself rang through the air as soon as the troops came near the building. Random doors were swiftly opened for a quick inspection only to see an empty room. Lydia closed her eyes in fright as the soldiers came nearer to their hiding place, Beetlejuice ready to fight if need be.

Nothing. The door was never opened for inspection and the two stayed perfectly still until the sound of the marching faded away from their ears. Once they thought it was safe to see if the guards were gone, Lydia tried to move to make her way back to the door when a set of female arms wrapped themselves around Lydia's neck with one of them covering her mouth. Mumbling and struggling to set herself free from her assailant, Lydia kicked and thrashed around until she heard a familiar voice speak to her, "Easy there girl. You move around worse than a wild seahorse." Lydia blinked and ceased moving with the confusion nearly overtaking her mind. The arms then pulled away from Lydia's neck and mouth and she turned around to see their owner. "Sierra?" Lydia whispered loudly upon seeing the face of a friend she thought had been eaten by sand worms. "That's right. Sorry about the scare there Lydia. It was just too good of an opportunity." Sierra stated placing her right hand on the back of her head and coyly sticking her tongue out the right side of her mouth. Lydia noticed that her shirt barely hung off of her and was nearly destroyed on the back with just the collar and sleeves keeping her breasts from being shown to anyone and everyone. Relieved to see her friend alive, Lydia lunged forward and embraced Sierra in a hug and allowed some tears of relief to stream down her face. Slightly surprised, Sierra returned the embrace and said, "Glad to see y'all too. So how's mah little gal been?" Lydia pulled away from the hug and said, "Forget about me, how did you survive the sand worm attack?" Sierra turned around to show Lydia her bare back. A deep scar that ran from Sierra's right shoulder to the top of her left kidney could be seen there. "Missed me with his teeth and got me with his spines." She stated. "The Seer nursed me back to health. We might all be dead folks, but that don't mean injuries don't hurt." "How can a sand worm miss its target?" Beetlejuice interrupted. "It happens. Not often, but it still does. I got lucky." Sierra answered him. "My question is how did the Seer heal up the wound in **three weeks**?" Lydia asked still dumbfounded. "He might be kooky. But his medicinal herbs work wonders." She answered.

"How long have you been hiding in the Road House?" Beetlejuice asked Sierra. "Just got here yesterday, why?" She inquired. Beetlejuice suddenly fell sarcastic. "And it never occurred to you to raid some of the drawers in the rooms." He asked. Sierra blinked a few times before looking down at her tattered shirt. "Not until just now." She remarked with slight embarrassment. She then slowly stood up, making sure that no guards were lagging behind or anything else and then began doing what Beetlejuice suggested. She pulled open some of the drawers until she located some women's blouses and undergarments. "Beetlejuice, hun, why don't y'all take yer leave for now." Beetlejuice looked at Sierra for a short time surprised and instinctively asked, "Why?" "Y'all want me ta strip in front of ya?" She asked coyly. Realizing that it **was** a pretty dumb question he stood up and exited the premises. "Y'all need ta tell me exactly what has happened these past weeks with ya." Sierra said to Lydia while she fished around the drawers for her sizes. Lydia began recalling the events that took place after Sierra's "demise" and explained the mistake Beetlejuice made and how she used the guardian ghost pact to escape the Nietherworld. Eventually, Sierra located lavender colored shirt that fit her form perfectly and a set of under garments that felt comfortable. She then proceeded to remove the rest of her clothes and make her way to the bathing room. "Does the water still run here?" Lydia asked after finishing her story. "Of course it does. It just won't be warm by any means." Sierra answered and closed the bathroom door. Moments later Lydia could hear water run from the faucet and waited for her friend to bathe.

Beetlejuice walked in moments later and asked, "Where's Sierra?" "She decided to bathe before continuing on." Lydia answered him. "It's gonna be **cold** water." He sarcastically stated and then began wandering around the room looking for something to use as a disguise. "I have a question." Lydia said to Beetlejuice after a moment of silence. "And I have an answer." Was his response. "How did you know the name of the complex? There's no sign out front and anything that resembled a sign looks completely destroyed." Lydia stated. "I used to live here. Long before Naria took over and began dumping trash in my back yard. Not that I'm complaining, it keeps away the sand worms." He answered her. "How's that?" Lydia asked. Beetlejuice turned to look at Lydia before answering this question. "Sand worms have an extremely good sense of smell. However, they can't handle sifting through too many scents all in the same place. A garbage dump, for example, has thousands of scents all on a single area. That's enough to make a sand worm sick enough to stay away as long as they remain." "Oh, I see." Lydia said with realization, "That's why you built a hiding place in that heap. It was a perfect hiding place." "Yep. You got it." Beetlejuice praised her for her sleuthing work, and then continued on poking around. Another ten minutes passed by and the sound of falling water could be heard from inside the bathroom. Beetlejuice quickly left the room to give Sierra some privacy while getting herself dressed.

Sierra emerged from the bathroom with a white towel wrapped around herself. "Oh, I'd almost forgotten what it feels like to soak in the water." She sighed in pure bliss and looking completely renewed. Her scaly skin glistened as she dropped her towel and began putting on her selected clothes. Moments later Lydia made her way to where Beetlejuice hid himself and said to him, "She's done, Beetlejuice. You can come out now." As he emerged he saw her wearing a lavender colored t-shirt with a violet spaghetti strap shirt over it. She apparently located some light Capri jeans that fit her like a glove and had a pair of ankle socks in her right hand. "It's amazing how the person that lived here was just about my size in every way." Sierra said while admiring herself. "Find some shoes and let's go." Beetlejuice retorted. Sierra looked down at her slightly webbed toes and then made her way around to look for some shoes that suit her. She eventually found some solid white tennis shoes that fit her one half size too large and she was finally ready to travel. "So, where are we going?" She then asked Lydia. "We actually came here to rescue some prisoners I met in the castle dungeons." Was her answer. Sierra looked at Lydia like she thought that the girl was insane. "What?" She asked trying to figure out if she hear Lydia right. "Well, when you were supposedly taken by the sand worms, I just couldn't stop thinking about how cruel of a fate that could be. So, I want to at least see if they are still there." Lydia sheepishly admitted. "You're crazy girl. Y'all know that, right?" Sierra calmly stated to her.

Beetlejuice led the two girls through the towns and back to the castle. All the while, keeping hidden from the guards and sand worms. "I hope you girls aren't afraid of heights, because it's a fifty foot drop." Beetlejuice informed them as they inched their way closer to the castle walls. "Oh, y'all are gonna take the main water system into the castle." Sierra said in realization. Beetlejuice nodded in confirmation as Lydia stated, "That's the plan." "Then allow me to change into something that won't slow me down. Sierra said while holding up a bright sky blue bikini swimming suit with a black line design of a butterfly on the left breast. "I brought this just for occasions like this." "A fashion statement everywhere you go." Beetlejuice retorted as the mermaid moved herself behind a nearby ruin and began changing into the swimming suit. It took her a good five minutes, but she returned back with her "land clothes" neatly folded up. "Could you put these in a spot where they won't get ruined or wet?" She asked Beetlejuice, handing him the clothes. Beetlejuice simply stared at the mermaid woman and slid her clothes into the inner pocket of his striped coat. "You know that that's gonna attract attention right?" Lydia said to her. "It doesn't matter. Y'all need an Atlantian to quickly swim ya to the entrance. It's pretty tiny and I can swim faster than yer average Atlantian anyway." Sierra stared slightly proud of herself. "The point is to **not **attract attention to ourselves the whole way." Beetlejuice began arguing with her. "Y'all brought disguises right?" Sierra inquired, slightly surprised.

After Beetlejuice acquired some more robes form some of the abandoned merchant stands, the three of them then made their way behind the castle. What awaited them there was a cliff of what was what Beetlejuice had explained earlier, a fifty foot drop to the water below. The water was raging and swift in its current and looked like it could easily sweep away any careless creature that fell in. Lydia gulped with slight fear as she looked down at the rapids below. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" She whined. "This was actually **your** idea. Remember?" Beetlejuice reminded the nearly panicking girl. Suddenly, Sierra dashed from behind them and launched herself off of the cliff and plummeted fifty feet down. She gracefully dove into the water like an Olympic diver and resurfaced moments later swimming and jumping in and out of the waves similar to a dolphin, the rapid waters not bothering her in the slightest. "And she called **me** crazy." Lydia stated through her teeth, slightly annoyed. Beetlejuice then extended his hand out to her from just beyond the cliff and said in an obviously fake British accent, "Your chariot awaits, madam." When Lydia looked up to her guardian ghost, he was floating in mid air over the ravine with his right hand extended to Lydia and his left hand behind his back. Reluctantly, Lydia took Beetlejuice's hand with her own right hand and he clutched it just before he pulled her off of the cliff. Rather than falling to her doom she found herself weightless and standing on the air as if it were the floor. "Oh, what most girls wouldn't give for **this**?" She joked and the two of them stepped down and imaginary staircase down to the rapid waters below.

Once they were close enough to the water, Sierra jumped up and snagged Lydia out of the air and dove with her into the water, leaving Beetlejuice behind to wait and look out for the guards. When Sierra said that she was a fast swimmer, she wasn't kidding. She swam with the current at nearly double its speed and by passed the entrance in a matter of seconds. The water was near freezing and was capable of sucking the breath out of any creature that dove in. But Sierra endured greatly the water's temperatures and proved to even be able to breathe underwater. After bypassing the entrance, Sierra sharply turned around and began swimming against the current easily. She then surfaced to give her friend some air to breath and Lydia took in as many gasps as she could with her chest tightening up from the cold water. Just ahead, a wall that came completely down into the water, save-it-be a small gap for the current to push through, was stationed in front of them. Sierra swam the best she could through the wall's opening and into the castle's interior. Inside a large pool of water filtered into several channels that were pushed along with conveyor belts and water wheels. Inside the castle was not much better than in the water itself. Sierra hoisted Lydia up onto the cold, damp stone floor and then splashed back into the water to fetch Beetlejuice. Shivering and wet, Lydia huddled herself into the nearest corner and did the best to warm her body up with little success.

Moments later, Sierra and Beetlejuice surfaced from inside the water system. All three of them now cold and wet, Beetlejuice spoke first. "I ssssssupose wwwwe should wwwwwarm up bbbbbbefore cccccccontinuing?" "Ggggggot any ththththing to make a fffffire in ththththoes bottttomless pppppockets of yours?" Lydia remarked still shivering. Beetlejuice then reached into his coat pockets and pulled out what looked like a kerosene lantern and some matches. He fumbled a tiny bit with the matches but eventually lit the lantern and its flame began to produce both its light and its heat for the three of them. He then pulled out a single towel from his right side pocket and said, "Thththtis will help us dddddry off." Suddenly the water from Beetlejuice's body began evaporating where he sat. "Literal translation. You know I love it." He stated while warming up. Sierra snagged the dry towel from him and began patting her own body dry. "Yyyy'all got my clothes for me?" She then asked him. Beetlejuice, still annoyed, reached into his inner coat pocket and brought out Sierra's outfit that she had chosen for the journey and handed them to her. She quickly located a nook for which she could change in privacy.

Lydia then snagged the towel from where Sierra placed it on the ground and began to dry her hair with it. "It's too bad I can't take this wet thing off and change clothes." She complained referring to the spider silk. However, when she grabbed it to wring it out, it was perfectly dry like it had never touched water. "Deadly voo!" She exclaimed. "Wow, that thing never fails to amaze." Beetlejuice stated from witnessing that phenomenon. "So what exactly **is** the spider silk?" Sierra asked returning with her outfit on her body and her swimming suit in her hands. She wrung out as much water as she could while making her way back to the kerosene lantern. She handed them to Beetlejuice and he finally retorted, "What do I look like, your personal baggage?" Suddenly his body morphed in to a black and white striped suitcase with his eyes and mouth on the front. "I can see how this literal translation stuff is going to be a bother." He retorted picking his words carefully. He morphed himself back to his original form and finally gave in, "Fine, I'll carry your stupid clothes."

Lydia chuckled slightly at her guardian ghost's humility and then answered Sierra's question about the spider silk. "The thing is, we don't actually know too much about it ourselves. All I've been told was that it's this red robe that appears every time I pass into the Neitherworld, and that it protects me from harm." "What does that mean?" Sierra asked slightly confused. "So far it creates a kind of invisible shield when I'm about to get either hurt or killed." Lydia tried to answer without sounding clinically insane. Suddenly, her point was proven when a crimson spear lunged in and bounced off of Lydia's invisible shield, falling harmlessly to the stone floor. Each of them looked in shock in the direction the spear supposedly came from and noticed a sand soldier running back down one of the corridors where he had come from. Quickly thinking Lydia shouted out to her guardian ghost, "Beetlejuice, sick 'im!" Lunging forward and changing his own shape to that of a black and white striped wolf, Beetlejuice gave chase to the lone sand soldier, barking and snarling rabidly as he came closer and closer to the soldier in bronze armor. His barks and snarls echoed through the corridors and the two girls eventually lost his position. The sand soldier continued running as fast as he could to at least reach any of his superiors to relay his information about the intruders. He was just about to round another corner to try and loose the beast behind him when Beetlejuice tackled him at the waist, taking him to the stone floor. The moment the soldier's head struck the stone, the entire physical form of the creature dispersed into dust all except for a singly light blue ball of soft light that had a small essence of blue flames to it. The ball of light dissipated only seconds after the sand had settled on the stone floor.

To find his way back, Beetlejuice stayed in his wolf form and began sniffing the air for his own scent, which wasn't hard to find despite the damp air. The two girls had gotten worried about Beetlejuice when they heard some strange clicking noises coming from the direction of where the guardian ghost had given chase. A few moments of tension followed until Beetlejuice emerged in his wolf form sniffing the air. The strange noises had been coming from his wolf nails clicking against the stone surface. He morphed back to his original form the moment he was able to see the two girls and sat back down amongst them. "Quick thinking, Lyds." Beetlejuice commented to the black haired human. "That was close." She responded. "At least he left us something to fight back with." Sierra added picking up the crimson spear off of the stone floor.

"I hope you know how to use that thing." Lydia said to the Atlantian woman. Sierra's gaze followed the spear from the tip of the blade, all the way down to the end of the shaft. The spear held on it a ruby red spear blade that was approximately six inches in length, and a blood red shaft that was around one and a quarter inches in diameter and around five and a half feet long. The end of the shaft was decorated with a silver ring around the end and a round black jewel imbedded into the very end. Other than that the spear was void of any special decorations or designs. "Not a clue." Sierra finally answered Lydia. "You?" She then turned to the human girl. "The only thing I know about spears is that the sharp end points away from you." Was Lydia's answer. The two girls then turned their gaze to Beetlejuice. "Don't look at me. The only fighting I know how to do is 'scare tactics'." He joked. "Beetlejuice!" Lydia sighed. "Look, none of us actually know too much about these 'war strategies'. Just grip the spear and stick it into any sand soldier that comes your way. We'll have to wing it from here on." He stated. The moment he finished his sentence a large dragon wing appeared on his left shoulder blade and a pure white angel wing on his right. Noticing the two different wings on his back he sarcastically retorted, "Oh great! I get a choice." The wings then folded back into his back and vanished. "Great. How are we going to find the dungeons?" Sierra asked holding on to the spear with both hands. "That's where I come in." Beetlejuice announced. "Just follow me." And with that he began making his way through the labyrinth that made up the castle's water system.

Streams that were pushed along by conveyer belts with paddles on them were lined throughout most of the corridors. Other areas used water wheels with cups to bring the water to higher levels. The trio continued traveling for around twenty minutes when they at last reached a small staircase of six stairs leading up to a dark colored wooden door. "Ah, here we are. Almost thought I got us lost there for a minute." Beetlejuice remarked as he approached the door. Instead of a handle, the door had on it a large ring for pulling on. Beetlejuice placed his hands on the side of the door with the ring on it and bushed against the wood. The door began to shift and swing slowly inward only to reveal three other sand soldiers awaiting the return of their comrade. It was all Beetlejuice could do to simply smile and say, "Eh, he. Wrong door" while waving the fingers on his right hand at them.

The three sand soldiers each had with them, a crimson spear and each thrust the sharp end at Beetlejuce. Sensing his demise, he closed his eyes and awaited the piercing pain to shoot through his body. When it never came he opened his eyes to see Lydia standing in front of him and the three guards being thrown backward from the spider silk's protective shield. "Thanks Lyds." He said as he exhaled a sigh of relief. Sierra stepped in from behind the two and leisurely thrust the sharp end of her spear into each of the sand soldiers, one at a time, while they remained unconscious. Each had their body's disintegrate into piles of sand and each of them released a similar ball of light blue flames that evaporated only seconds after the sand settled to the ground. "What were those?" Lydia asked referring to the balls of blue flame. "I don't really know. All of Naria's sand creatures do that other than sand worms." Beetlejuice answered her. Lydia turned her gaze to Sierra to possibly find the answer to her question, but the Atlantian simply shrugged her shoulders at her.

"It's the essence of the lost soul used to bind the sand together and give it life." A dark handsome voice said a distance away from them. "Zut alores! Iz zat Lydia's voice I ear?" Another familiar voice with a thick French accent exclaimed in the same direction. "It must be. But who is that with her?" A third voice with a thick New York accent added. Hearing the three familiar voices she was hoping to hear, Lydia jumped from her joy and dashed toward the three people she came to rescue.

"Guys. You're all alive!" She exclaimed. "Looks like the spider silk has served you well so far." The man with the horns calmly stated to her. "Yes it has. It's already saved me a few times." Lydia responded happily. As Beetlejuice made his way into the light he recognized two of the three prisoners. "Jacques LaLean and Ginger Araknei. I wondered what happened to you guys." He stated rather surprised. "Beatleguice? Zo you finallie crawled out of ole and ztoped feeling zorry for youzelf." The skeleton remarked sarcastically. Lydia interrupted before Beetlejuice could make his next comeback, "Wait, you know these two?" "Yah, they were my neighbors at the Road House. The French skeleton is Jacques LaLean and the dancing spider happens to be Ginger Araknei." He answered her. "And what's your name handsome?" Sierra asked swooning over the man with the horns. He answered her seriously and slightly cold, "Aldar, Aldar Rosedale." "Sierra Atlantia." She introduced herself trying to sound sexy. "I didn't know her last name was Atlantia" Beetlejuice stated under his breath. "Why, what's that mean?" Lydia asked curiously. "It means that she was a member of the royal family of Atlantis." Beetlejuice responded to her. Surprised, Lydia's eyes widened as she returned her gaze to her Atlantian friend.

End of Episode 7


	8. Episode 8 The Life of the Wicked

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 8: The Life of the Wicked**

Is there anything you can do to get us out of here?" Ginger pleaded from inside her cell. "One of the guards had to have dropped the keys when you destroyed him. See if they're on the ground near the piles of sand." Lydia ran back to look around the sand piles on the stone floor from the destroyed guards. And sure enough there was a large iron ring with seven different iron skeleton keys hung on it. She picked up the heavy set of keys, each key seemed like it weighed around two pounds individually and the large softball sized ring seemed like it weighed around three by itself, and brought them back to Aldar's cell and fumbled around for a bit, trying to figure out which key opened the cells. The fifth key turned completely and the bolt locking the cell clunked back into the lock. Aldar pushed the barred door open as Lydia moved herself away from the swinging iron cage and made her way to Ginger and Jacques. She used the same key to unlock the two cells and they all were free.

"All right, now we need to get out of here." Lydia stated. "Not yet. There's still one key piece we'll need before we go." Aldar informed Lydia. "And that is?" Lydia asked confused and slightly annoyed. Rather than answering her outright, Aldar began walking down the hallway away from where the trio had entered from. "I need to get my sword back." He stated when he was around ten feet away. "Wait a minute. We can't go through the entire castle to look for a simple sword. Just take one from a sand soldier." Aldar stopped in his tracks and turned back toward the group glaring at Beetlejuice with just his left eye. "There's no need to search the entire castle. I know exactly where it is." He said to Beetlejuice, the slit for his pupil widening slightly and adding a bit of drama to his words. "You guys escape. I'll join you later. And be careful, if you are fatally wounded by a crimson weapon, you'll become enslaved by one of my sister's spells." He then added. "And, who is your sister?" Sierra asked innocently. Aldar paused for a moment and sighed in shame. "Naria. The current tyrant queen is my sister." All of them gasped at this new bit of news, surprised and bewildered. Aldar then continued on walking in his current direction to go and fetch his sword.

"I guess we continue on from here without him." Beetlejuice stated in his confusion. "Didn't you hear him? Queen Naria is his sister." Lydia complained. "And she threw him in ze dungeon around a undred years ago." Jacques added. "Either way, we need to find a way out of here." Beetlejuice interrupted. "How do we do that?" Lydia asked. "There's no way any of us can memorized the maze of a sewer system." "Even if we did, the tide is starting to come back in. If you thought it was rough before, there's no way you'd survive it now. Plus, the skeleton will just break apart in the rapids and we'll never find all of his parts." Sierra added. Beetlejuice stood and thought for a bit, placing his right hand just under his chin and humming his thoughts to himself. "Looks like the only way out is through the front gates. Unless you want to take all of these lost souls to the living world with us." Beetlejuice teased. "Let's at least make our way out of the castle first." Lydia stated, rejecting the idea of returning with four ghosts in tow. She imagined in her head the drama it would cause if her stepmother opened the door and found a giant spider, an Atlantian woman, a skeleton, and Beetlejuice gathered there.

"If we **do** return with them, could you make them class mates like you did with yourself?" Lydia asked her guardian ghost. "Can't. I may be able to manipulate different kinds of matter, but I can't manipulate the structure of other souls. Just my own." Beetlejuice informed her. "If I could, I would have turned Naria into a slug long ago and then shook a whole container of salt on her." "I guess that makes sense." Lydia said under her breath. "We can't go back, or the rapids will destroy us. And, we can't just warp out of here, think of the drama that would cause. Seems like the only thing we can do is move forward." She then admitted. "After you?" Beetlejuice motioned for Lydia to lead the way. "Thanks." Lydia stated sarcastically, lowering her eyebrows in annoyance. She then made her way in the direction Aldar had gone hoping to find an exit of sorts.

It seemed like hours since they began walking. The castle was enormous and sand soldiers appeared every so often to challenge the group of misfits to do battle. By the time they reached the castle's main entrance, they were weary and out of breath. Another attack wave of sand soldiers came and Lydia began to notice that their numbers were in the hundreds. She huddled her friends close to attempt to protect them using the spider silk and even use the guardian ghost pact to make a quick escape. Suddenly, the attack ceased and the sand soldiers stood their position. From above the masses of sand soldiers, Naria could be seen. She began cackling at her triumph with her dark wings fully spread, keeping herself hovering in the air above her soldiers' heads. "Look who came to visit. Are you here to give me the spider silk dear Lydia?" She asked grinning from ear to ear with a dark desire and bloodlust in her eyes.

Silence followed as Lydia tried to think of how to warp out without having the guards notice, until one of the castle doors began acting like it was having something being beaten against it. After three loud banging noises, the door was flung off of its hinges and the thick wooden slab came flying at Lydia and her friends. It bounced on the stone three feet from their position and flung itself over them, landing on four sand soldiers and effectively killing them. Aldar stood with his boot in the air looking as if he had just kicked the thick wooden door open. Clouds of sand and dust were beginning to settle behind him as he placed a rather odd looking claymore on his shoulder. The handle, itself, was a good two and a quarter feet long with what seemed to be a large yellow eye covered in purple goo that spread itself along the rest of the sword. Out of the goo that covered the eye were two horns that stuck out, following the blade of the sword, one above the other, acting as hand guards. The sword's blade was only single sided and was approximately three inches from the edge to the metal backing. All together the actual sword was around eight inches from the blades edge to the bare metal back and around four and a half feet long. The handle was colored a deep black but the metal was simply dark silver other than the purple goo that stretched from the eye across the sword, stretching like tentacles.

"I found it." Aldar stated smoothly while taping the odd sword on his right shoulder. Lydia stared at the sword's yellow eye for a short time questioning whether or not it could be real until it actually blinked at her. The eye then began looking around as if it was surveying the area. Lydia then pushed her eyebrows together in disgust and gritted her teeth as she made a sound through them that sounded like "Eehl". She then noticed Beetlejuice staring at Aldar with his eyes wide with fear. "Boy am I glad he's on our side." He said while he exhaled his words in fright. "Why is that?" Lydia asked trying to figure out what he was so afraid of. "That's the Soul Eater. A blade that feeds on lost souls. It's said to even devour the soul of its wielder eventually." Beetlejuice answered. "Wow. So Aldar is putting himself in jeopardy just by holding it?" Lydia asked in response. She noticed Beetlejuice simply stare in awe and fear at Aldar's sword as the eye moved around again and fixed its gaze on Lydia. Lydia cringed at the eye's fixed gaze as if she believed it was choosing her as its next meal.

Naria had also turned her gaze to her brother in anger and hate. "Aldar." She said through her teeth. "Nice to see you too little sister." Aldar coldly said as he brought the sword across his body. "Everyone stay as close to Lydia as you can." He demanded and swung the blade as hard as he could at the air. Jacques, Ginger and Sierra hugged Lydia from the back while Beetlejuice stepped in as close to her as he could. Aldar's swing turned out to be so hard that a shock wave left his sword as the blade sliced through the air. Instinctively, Lydia reached for Beetlejuice's arm and held on tightly as the shock wave passed quickly and violently. Despite Lydia's shield protecting them from harm, sand soldiers flew into the air and were smashed against the castle walls. Most vanished into sand and blue essence upon impact with the stone walls, others turned to sand and blue essence upon striking the stone floor. The wind pressure alone was enough to drive the flunky soldiers away and frighten any else who may think of attacking. Once the wind settled down the group of friends let go of each other and gazed around the room to assess the damage. Out of the three hundred sand soldiers that flooded the room to capture Lydia and her friends, only sixteen of them survived the initial attack. Even Naria was flung into one of the walls.

"That's incredible!" Lydia gasped as she looked over back at Aldar. She noticed something happening to him as he began to stagger while taking a few steps to join the group. Lydia ran up to Aldar and placed her hands on him to support him on his feet. He was gasping for air and breathing heavily. "We need to get out of the castle." Aldar warned. "Lydia led Aldar back over to the group and said, we need to get back to the Road House to Beetlejuice to keep any one else from hearing her voice echo. "We're already there Lyds." Beetlejuice responded. The moment his words stopped ringing out of his mouth, the scenery changed from Naria's castle to the interior of the Road House apartment complex. It was the very room they found Sierra in. "Rapid transit." He said to the rest of the group smugly.

Back at the castle, Naria recovered from her being slammed against the wall quickly just in time to witness her targets vanish on front of her eyes once again. Irate once more she screamed out loud at the top of her lungs. Suddenly Demattix came fluttering down from one of the rafters. "You screamed, my queen?" He said coldly and maliciously. Once he fluttered in range, Naria snatched him by the throat and began ringing it tightly in her right hand. She then flung him, with all of her might, away from her and shouted in pure anger as he hit the stone floor, "Round up the rest of the sand soldiers and begin creating more. I'll go and send out the sand worms. I sense that they are still here in the Neitherworld and no one will rest until Lydia is back on the altar. **I want that spider silk!**" Her eyes bloodshot and wide with rage, she gripped her fists and watched as Demattix quickly scrambled to his feet and flew away to assemble every sand soldier in the castle.

Lydia placed Aldar on the bed to allow him to rest. "We won't be safe here long." Aldar grunted still weak from his over exertion. "Naria is going to gather the rest of her troops and track us down without remorse. "So what happened? What made her throw her own brother in a dungeon?" Lydia asked. "She's always been like that." Aldar answered. "When we were kids, she would always do whatever it took to be in charge of everything. She always believed that she was destined for something special, so when she was given the assignment of caring for the sand worms, she felt under appreciated. Eventually she acquired the ability to communicate with the sand worms, and over time that ability turned into control of the sand worms, which she used to escape her duties. One day she found a merchant that sold ancient relics. There she discovered her spell cauldron and even discovered how to use it the moment she met Demattix." "What is Demattix?" Beetlejuice asked. "He's an imp from the Underworld." Aldar answered.

"Guys, let him rest. We need to find a way to keep ourselves from being discovered by the sand soldiers." Sierra pleaded to them. "Ze garbage pile behind uz weel keep ze sand worms out, no?" Jacques stated to his new friends, "And I can tell you if ze soldiers approach from sree miles away." "How is that?" Sierra turned to the skeleton with her right brow raised in question. "We zkelitones may not be ze best fightars, but we ave a unique ability to zense vibrations from ze ground srew our bones." He explained. "So pretty much, you're a walking warning system." Beetlejuice retorted sarcastically. Jacques didn't like that remark very much and gave Beetlejuice as much of an evil glare as he could.

Meanwhile Lydia contemplated with herself about the situation at hand. "Can Naria tell whether or not, I'm still in the Neitherworld?" She asked Aldar. Aldar thought for a moment, still weak and getting tired. "It's possible that she developed a sense to allow herself to track you. But at this point, she wouldn't be able to pin point you." He answered. Lydia looked down at the ground in pity and slight sorrow for her friends' safety. "If I use the guardian ghost pact to return to my world in front of Naria, then she'll stop her search for me then, and you guys will be safe." She debated with herself out loud. "And how do you plan on doing that?" Ginger asked concerned for her friend. "I'll just have to make sure that Naria sees me." Lydia answered with determination in her eyes. "And if it doesn't work?" Aldar asked still fighting his exhaustion. "I just hope it does, or we're all goners." Lydia's expression turned to one of doubt and worry when the words escaped her mouth. She gathered her courage together and got herself ready for her big escape. "Are you coming Beetlejuice?" She asked her guardian ghost. "Do I have a choice?" He retorted to her.

Her plan seemed simple enough, find Naria and return to Lydia's room before she has a chance to capture them. The hard part was finding the evil queen. With her sand soldiers fanning out everywhere, there was no way of finding her without engaging in heart pounding battles. Nearly struggling to survive, Beetlejuice and Lydia both were becoming exhausted within the hour. They dropped to their knees out of breath and just about to give up hope of ever finding the queen when she finally appeared. Hovering in the sky over their heads with her wings made from shadows she had a sinister smile of triumph on her face. "Finally there's nothing you can do." She boasted. "You think so huh?" Lydia taunted. "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" Lydia called out. Again they were thrust through the same series of doors until they were thrown back into the creepy stone room that became Lydia's closet. Once again thwarted by the same simple tactic, Naria could no longer feel Lydia in the Nietherworld and screamed one more time at the top of her lungs.

Breathing heavily and exhausted from their fights, Lydia and Beetlejuice took a minute to regain themselves from their narrow escape. "Nice use of the 'B' words Lyds." Beetlejuice stated in between breaths. "Better turn back to Ben for now. We need to meet my folks at the front door." Lydia said in between her own breaths. After a brief rest, the two dashed out of the mystic room of Lydia's closet and prepared themselves to confront Lydia's parents.

Nothing worked out the way Lydia had thought out that afternoon. Apparently, Delia had called the parents of both Prudence and Bertha and wasn't too keen on Lydia spending her day with a boy. It was only until Lydia explained that Ben had all of her classes and that he was struggling in a few of them did both Delia and Charles agree to listen to Lydia's explanation. Lydia explained how Ben lives in a cottage in the woods and that his grandfather doesn't know how to use phones. Lydia was then grounded to her room for the rest of the day rather than the rest of the month. She made her way back to her room and simply plopped onto her bed stressed out and exhausted from her rescue. Ben returned to the woods to where he presumably lived with his grandfather and doubled back to Lydia's room to apologize of the trouble. However, when he floated up and phased through the window glass, he found Lydia fully asleep, still exhausted from her crazy day. Feeling the strain from the day, himself, he decided to transform back into the hideous doll and place himself next to Lydia's pillow before falling asleep, himself.

Morning arose the next day and Lydia arose from the light piercing through her window and onto her face. She sat up in her bed and stretched out the stress from the day before, allowing it to simply melt right off of her body the best she could. Turning around to look at her surroundings she located Beetlejuice's doll form sitting on the right side of her pillow, slumped over like he was still sleeping. She smiled at the hideous doll lightly and then proceeded to awaken herself with a warm shower. She first gathered up some fresh clothes from her drawers and then made her way to the bathroom closest to her room. Once inside, she locked the door and began removing the clothes she had on the day before. She then made her way to the shower/bath combo and turned the knob to the hot water and allowed it to begin to fill up the tub. The hot water poured out and the steam began to rise as the water reached its evaporation level. Once the water was at the desired depth, Lydia turned the faucet off and the water ceased flowing. She waited for a minute to let the water cool some before she placed her right foot in to test the water. With the water at the desired temperature, she stepped over the tub's raised edge and knelt down into the water and allowed the rest of her stress evaporate with the steam.

In the room, Beetlejuice finally awoke from his own sleep. He morphed back to his original form and stretched out. Once he was done stretching, he tilted his head from side to side and listened to his vertebra pop and then placed his right hand on the back of his neck to rub away the stiffness. Still groggy, he looked around for his partner. When he couldn't find her his eyes shot open and he began to worry a little. He cautiously opened the bedroom door to make sure Lydia's parents weren't nearby. He found the housed eerily empty for once and decided to investigate. He began to sneak around the house to find any signs of occupancy. He heard the sound of water moving around as he passed the bathroom nearest to Lydia's room. Realizing that it was most likely Lydia in there, he decided not to take his chances and continued his investigation.

Making his way downstairs, Beetlejuice peeked in the kitchen thinking that he would most likely see Delia "experimenting" with her latest recipe. Instead, he found nothing but a piece of paper pinned to the refrigerator by a little happy looking magnet. Beetlejuice quickly morphed into a black and white striped gecko and quickly made his way over to the fridge, hoping to run into neither Delia nor Charles. Once he made it to the foot of the fridge, he morphed back and began reading the words on the piece of paper. "Delia and I will be out for the majority of the day. Be back by dinner time. Love, Dad" was what was written on it. Confused, Beetlejuice decided to relay the information back to Lydia. But not before making himself a sandwich for breakfast.

Refreshed and cleaned, Lydia exited the bathroom after dressing herself in a fresh set of clothes and draining the tub. Rubbing a towel in her hair to dry it off, she began the short trek back to her room to attempt to wake up Beetlejuice, if he wasn't already awake. Soon she heard rustling coming from the kitchen and decided to investigate the scene. She made her way over to the kitchen, where she heard all of the noises coming from and noticed that the fridge was being raided. She crept over to find the perpetrator when she noticed the black and white striped suit pants. "Beetlejuice, what are you doing? What if someone sees you?" She whispered loudly to him. Beetlejuice thrust his head upward to see who had startled him. He still had a slice of ham in his mouth when he spoke through his teeth, "Your dad left a note on the fridge, he and your stepmom are gonna be out for the majority of the day." Lydia turned her gaze to the fridge door and finally noticed the note. "Is it the beginning of the month already?" She asked herself. "What does that mean?" Beetlejuice asked her. "They do this at the beginning of every month. They take a whole day to themselves and simply go on a huge date." She answered. "Oh." Beetlejuice exhaled.

"We should take this opportunity to check on the others." Lydia suggested to her guardian ghost. "Right and possibly walk right into a trap." Beeteljuice warned her. "You think she has recaptured them by now?" Lydia asked. "We're gonna find out anyway right?" Beetlejuice groaned figuring out Lydia's stubborn streak. She simply smiled and called out, "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice." With that, their environment shifted back to the Road House. Suddenly they both were snatched and dragged down behind the bed once again by Sierra. She shushed the two of them before either of them could voice any complaints and they waited for the sounds of marching to subside. "What's going on? I thought that if I had left the Neitherworld that Naria would have halted her pursuit." Lydia whispered to Sierra. "Not quite, she increased the guard to find the escaped prisoners." Sierra whispered back. Beetlejuice thought about the predicament for a short while and finally made his decision. "I know a place that we can be perfectly safe in the dump behind here." He said seriously. At that point Aldar joined in on the conversation. "Good take us there. We need a place where we can talk in peace." He said to him. Jacques and Ginger were close by hiding the best they could to keep themselves from being noticed by the guards. When the coast was clear, Beetlejuice led them from the Road House through the dump that was located behind it. He led them through various obstacles to keep from being discovered and eventually ended the journey at a familiar buss. "This is the place you took me to when I first arrived in the Nietherworld." Lydia remembered. "Yep, it sure is." Beetlejuice said with nostalgia in his voice.

They piled inside in just a few minutes. Lydia looked around the shabby old room with her own sense of nostalgia while the rest of them simply got themselves comfortable. Jacques and Ginger sat side by side on the mattress located in the far corner, Aldar and Sierra located a chair each and Beetlejuice and Lydia sat cross-legged on the concrete floor. "It seems like I owe you all a story, don't I?" Aldar admitted. "Zat iz true. First, why did Naria srow you een ze dungeon when you were er brozer?" Jacques asked right off the bat. "That one's simple. I opposed her rule and she can't allow herself to feed me to her cauldron." Aldar answered. "Why is that?" Lydia questioned with slight confusion. Aldar turned to the human girl and said, "If she did, I'd contaminate her entire batch of brew. She can only combine like soul essences together for a spell brew. In other words either, blessed souls, lost souls, or condemned souls. There is no 'and'." Intrigued, Beetlejuice asked, "Wait, you aren't a lost soul?" "No, I'm a demon, a resident of the Underworld itself." Aldar admitted. "Then how did you get to the Neitherworld if the spirit gates are sealed?" Ginger gasped. "We've been here since it **was** sealed. I'm the one that hid the Angelic Journals when my sister took over. That's the second reason why she had kept me around for so long." Aldar explained. The entire group now was completely shocked and gasped in unison, "What?" "Like I said, 'I owe you all a story'." Aldar repeated.

"It happened when we were kids." Aldar began to explain, "The construction of the spirit gates had been completed and guardians were placed at the gates entry ways to monitor and protect from intrusion. At the same time a contract was forged by the current rulers of each of the worlds thousands of years ago. The Outerworld had the great dragon king, The Underworld had the monarch known as Vordak, the Heavens had its deity many of you know as God, and the Neitherworld had Prince Vince Asrael for a time. Humans were still creating their own world in ignorance so they were never informed of the spirit gates out of fear of their greed and fear. However, we should have turned our attention to Vordak." Aldar paused for a while to rub his face from the anguish of the memory. He then continued his story, "For two thousand years the spirit gates were simply used as a means of allowing the four worlds to interact with one another. Naria and I would often play with some friends we made from the Neitherworld and that's where we were when Vordak first attacked utilizing the spirit gates. Horde after horde of misshapen demons and condemned souls under his control came flooding through the gates with Vordak himself commanding them from the Underworld, until an angel named Myra Autumndale commanded an army of angels of her own and drove the hordes back into the Underworld and sealed them from the Neitherworld. Prince Vince was fatally wounded in an attack and so passed the crown to Myra. Naria and I were thus trapped in the Neitherworld where we grew up on the streets until Myra found us and gave us rooms at the castle. When we were old enough I began training to end up in the royal guard and Naria trained herself to become a royal magician. But it never ended up that way. Sand worms from the Underworld somehow had gotten trapped in the Neitherworld and began running amok in the cities. During one such attack, Naria actually heard the sand worm speak to her, an ability rare in any world. Because of that she was commissioned to lead the sand worms into the sand pits, a desert on the edge of the Neitherworld that no one has ever been able to cross. Her job never actually came to a complete end. Eventually sand worms would escape and she would have to use her power to lead it back to the sand pits while I ended up as the queen's personal guard and even eventually acquired the soul eater blade from the mountains of despair." He paused again to rub the sadness out of his eyes before continuing.

"I don't know how, because she had kept this a secret from even her magic teacher, but somehow she acquired an ancient cauldron from a merchant at the black markets and met Demattix who taught her how to use it. Since she was unstable from the events of her life, so acquiring the powers of another soul drove her over the edge and she eventually fed her teacher's essence to the cauldron. After that, she took the life of the Angelic Queen and placed the crown on her own head. The queen's essence I was able to seize and hide along with most of her journals including the first volume that describes how to seal and unseal the spirit gates." His story ended he awaited for the reaction of his audience. Lydia was the first to break the silence, "So where are the Angelic Journals?" She asked. "I am sworn to secrecy until the guards of the spirit gates have reassembled. And even then no one can allow themselves to reopen the gates. It's too dangerous with evil such as Vordak still ruling one of the four worlds." He answered.

Suddenly they could hear stomping noises outside and parts of the ceiling began to crumble right over their heads. "Don't worry, they'll pass in time." Sierra stated slightly nervous. "Not before this room collapses, there must be a hundred sand soldiers up there. This place might cave in any minute." Beetlejuice warned and began to move back toward the entrance while covering his head. He turned back and said to the group, "What are you waiting for? Get moving before the place crushes you." One by one they quickly moved back to the entrance to make their attempt to get back to the surface. First Sierra, then Jacques and Ginger, then Lydia and finally Aldar. With Beetlejuice tailing behind, they made their way to the buss moments before the ceiling of the hideaway collapsed under the feet of dozens of sand soldiers. Sierra burst through the back door of the buss only to meet up with a dozen more sand soldiers, each wielding a crimson spear. Instinctively she thrust her crimson spear forward and pierced the soldier in front of her. The soldier turned to sand and light blue essence in a flash and the other soldiers came in for the kill strike to avenge their fallen comrade. Before their spears could pierce Sierra's flesh, Lydia's shield deflected them and they were flung backward. Sierra gazed behind her and felt a wave of relief. "Thanks, girl." She exhaled.

Suddenly they heard Aldar's voice call to them, "Move!" The two girls separated and the demon man darted in between them, soul eater in hand. Once he cleared his new friends, he began swinging the sword skillfully, as if he had been fighting for thousands of years. Slaying the sand soldiers in multiples at a time, Lydia noticed that the essences that came out of the soldiers slain by the soul eater followed the blade as he swung it around like he was simply dancing with it. Eventually the essences would reach the blade and dissolve the moment the essence and the blade made contact with one another. Lydia barely noticed Demattix dive bomb down to Lydia and bounce off of the shield until he actually did. She shrieked slightly at the sudden start when the dark grey creature came within three feet of her head. Crossing swords with another sand soldier, Aldar called back to the group, "Get out of here! She's after you again. You need to go home." Suddenly Naria's cackle could be heard from within the army of soldiers. "You think that just because you go home again, that I'll simply stop my attacks? No dear Lydia, it's because you went back home last time that I sought out your new friends. Give up girl. I will have that spider silk." She taunted. Lydia simply looked up at Naria and was about to call Beetlejuice to go back home when Naria interrupted her. "Uh, uh, uh, little girl. I wouldn't do that if I were you. That is, if you value the existence of your Atlantian friend." Naria taunted once more waving the first finger of her right hand at Lydia. Lydia turned her gaze to where she last saw Sierra to find that she was being held hostage by one of the sand soldiers. He held a crimson broad sword to her throat and her spear had been taken from her.

Lost and arguing with herself about what to do, Lydia looked to Aldar for guidance. She saw him raise his sword to strike down a sand soldier and then heard Naria call to her brother, "Stop attacking, or my soldier will slit her throat." Aldar stopped and weighed his options. Over the past day that he had spent with her, he had grown slightly fond of the Atlantian princess, so he lowered his sword to the ground. Lydia then began feeling the last of her hope drift away as she saw the sand soldier slowly bring the sword closer to Sierra's esophagus. "Ok, ok. I give. Lydia said, gesturing with her hands of her surrender. Little did anyone know that Beetlejuice had morphed himself into a small fly and began buzzing around with the rest of the insects, blending in perfectly. He effectively landed on the shoulder of the soldier holding Sierra hostage, morphed back in an instant and quickly snapped the neck of the sand soldier. Sierra watched as the sword held so close to her throat, simply drop to the ground. She turned around to get a glimpse of her savior and found Beetlejuice turning around to face off against more sand soldiers. "Thanks, sugar." She said still startled. "You're welcome." Beetlejuice stated.

With Sierra no longer in mortal danger, Aldar lifted his sword back up and continued fighting the soldiers. Lydia watched as her friends now risked their lives to protect her. Ginger slung her webbing around like it was some kind of whip or flail weapon, Jacques and Sierra and Beetlejuice picked up any weapon they could get their hands on and protected themselves to the best of their abilities. Suddenly, Naria screamed at the top of her lungs and then called out in rage, "Sand worms, take her!" Suddenly, the ground beneath Lydia began to uproot itself and three sand worms screamed into the air as they came out of the ground. "You fool!" Screamed Demattix, "Their noses." Just as everyone had told her the sand worms took one whiff of the noxious air and they began to act crazy. As if they were enraged by the stench of the dump. Surrounded, there wasn't much Lydia could do until the bumped into one of the worms.

The beast turned its head downward and simply stared at the helpless girl with its blood red eyes after extending its inner head from the outer mouth. As it screeched, it caught the attention of its brethren and the other two watched as the first dove down and snatched Lydia in its mouth. Again her shield protected her from harm but that wasn't the end of her horrors. The other two apparently decided to fight over her. The other two snatched her on other sides of the shield one having its head over top of her. Lydia began to scream at the top of her lungs hoping to heaven that they would eventually give up. She gazed down to see her friends preoccupied with battling their own foes when she heard the sound of glass cracking. She turned back and saw, to her horror, the invisible shield having a visible crack in it at points where the sand worm teeth had connected with it. The crack began to expand around the sphere until it had passed under Lydia and back around. The moment the crack reached the other side, the bottom of the protective sphere shattered and Lydia began falling from the sand worms' mouths. Screaming from her new predicament, the sand worms suddenly began fighting each other to take dominance for the meal.

When Beetlejuice heard Lydia scream, he knocked away his sand soldier foe and turned his gaze to where he heard Lydia. Watching her fall from the sand worms, he gasped, "Lydia!" and thought quickly, "I gotta get there fast." He said out loud and began to run. His feet then started moving faster and faster until he was set to catch Lydia in a mere moment. She fell right into his arms and suddenly began to feel her lungs burn. "Although I know I should be weary." She coughed to herself. Realizing that she was about to use the entire chant Beetlejuice shouted to his comrades, "Get over her and make sure you touch either me or Lydia." Each one of them quickly ended the battle they were currently engaged in and made their way over to the two of them. Ginger was the last as she tried using her web to slow down any pursuit. "Still I venture someplace scary." Lydia continued. She then coughed twice before continuing the rest of the chant. "No, stop them!" Naria called to her troops. "Ghostly haunting I turn loose." Lydia's voice cracked from trying to speak. The sand soldiers were charging in on them at this point. "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice." She finished just before fainting.

End of Episode 8


	9. Episode 9 Reaction

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 9: Reaction**

The team suddenly found themselves in a stone room with one heavy wooden door directly behind them and another heavy door up a tall flight of stairs. They began looking around at their strange new surroundings. "I sought zat ze Outerworld would be bigger, no?" Jacques said to himself out loud. "This isn't the Outerworld. It's actually right through that door up there." Beetlejuice said motioning to the door at the top of the staircase. "That's not important now, Lydia's out cold and she looks sick." They gathered together around their comrade to see for themselves what Beetlejuice was talking about. When they gazed upon her unconscious body, they noticed that Lydia's pale skin had started slowly turning green from within and her breathing had become shallow. Her eyes were closed and had begun setting themselves deeper into their sockets. Her fingernails had started darkening and Beetlejuice began to feel her heart rate begin to slow down.

"She must have gotten a whiff of the toxic air." Aldar deduced. "How's that possible, I thought the spider silk protected her from that." Beetlejuice asked in a mild panic. "Look at the spider silk." Sierra gasped. The rest of them then turned their attention to the mystic garment. Rather than it being colored a vibrant bright red with black line on it in the pattern of a spider web, the entire fabric of the garment was colored black and almost looked lifeless as it dangled off of Lydia's body. "Well what can we do? It can't end like this. We'll both be erased from existence." Beetlejuice panicked more with every word that came out of his own mouth. "Calm down, for one thing." Aldar stated to him. "I think that there is one thing I can do." He then added and without mentioning another word about the situation he headed back toward the door leading back to the Nietherworld. "Keep the door open, but keep yourselves hidden. Don't come after me and watch for my return. If I'm not back in seven minutes, close the door entirely and never open it again." Aldar ordered Jacques and Ginger. He then grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it open with ease. On the other side, the Nietherworld was shown and Aldar stepped out back into the hostile world to find a cure for Lydia's poison.

The horned man continued on for some time in the direction of his sister's castle seeking out his theory. His mind distracted by memories of his childhood. "Why, Naria? How could you betray the very person that took us in and gave us a home?" He murmured to himself while walking closer and closer to the castle. His concentration returned suddenly as he remembered his mission. "Six minutes." He said to himself and then took off as fast as he could.

Destroying any and all sand soldiers that he came across, the warrior began carving his path closer and closer to his destination, flashes of memories crossing his mind as he maintained his focus on saving his new friend. One particular memory of the single redeeming quality of his tyrant sister. He pictured in his head the events that happened on the third day of them living in the castle. He was around five years of age when Aldar located Naria, his three year old sister, in the garden near the back of the castle's interior, she was kneeling down smelling the different kinds of flowers with the Angelic Queen standing just to her right. She was very beautiful even for being a mere hundred years old. She stood tall and graceful, her pure white gown reflecting light off of it and making her seem to be glowing. Her long blond hair like strands of pure gold draping down to the middle of her back, and bright green eyes reflecting gentleness and love in everything she accomplished. They both seemed to fancy her as a mother figure at that time and he saw Naria point to a particular flower from the garden. The flower had five almond shaped pedals that began a bright green color in the center and faded to a whitish blue the closer it got to the pedal's tip. In between each pedal was another pedal in the similar shape of an insect's antenna that was simply a solid velvet color. The flower's core was a bright velvet color as well but had to it, a kind of fuzzy feel to it and left small smears of velvet pollen when the little girl felt it with her right thumb. Its stem was a bright green color and had almond shaped leaves traveling up it every three inches. Most of the flowers never grew above five inches but a rare few grew up to seven. "Lady Myra, what is this flower?" The innocent little girl asked the queen. "That, little one, is called a Moonwisp. It's said that the pollen of this flower can cure almost any poison. And even have been known to survive harsh conditions." The lady informed the small girl. "They're my favorite." The little girl innocently stated. "And why is that, Naria?" Myra asked. "Why, indeed." The young Aldar thought to himself, the flower gave off no smell, and there were certainly more elegant looking flowers in the garden. "Because it leaves purple all over my hands. That's my favorite color." The three year old girl stated while holding up her velvet stained hands to the queen for her to see. The Angelic Queen gazed at little Naria's hands for a split second and then began giggling. "It sure does." She finally replied, and the two of them then began laughing out loud to one another.

As Aldar flashed back to his reality he began to spin around ducking and dodging attacks from sand soldiers whilst delivering his own. Guessing the sense of time that had passed by, "Four minutes or less." He stated to himself. "Four minutes or less till what, big brother?" Naria's voice could be heard hovering above him. He turned his gaze toward where the voice came from and found his sister hovering over him, sitting with her right leg crossed over her left as if she was in a chair. Her shadow wings were extended to their full length nearly doubling Naria's body height in length. "The girl is dying from **your** poisons. I need a Moonwisp." He demanded. "And, why should I simply help you?" She asked with curiosity and mischief. She awaited her older brother's answer impatiently while mocking him, waiting to hear his infuriatingly selfless answer. "Because you still need her alive. If she dies at this point, both she and the spider silk will erase themselves from existence. You'll never get the spider silk then." His words were cold and uncaring as they escaped his mouth.

Naria's eyes went wide from her brother's cold response. "Are you planning on betraying them and handing me the girl?" Naria asked with evil glee. "Aldar closed his eyes for a few seconds as he thought of his answer. "No, I just want the Moonwisp, and I only have three minutes left. I guess I'll just have to take it by force then." The moment his words finished leaving his mouth, he leaped into the air at his little sister, the soul eater drawn for battle. Through the air he quickly closed in on the tyrant queen when she nimbly dodged his sword as he swung it at her. Aldar allowed himself to land and the lunged once again at her. Fearing for her life Naria placed her hands in front of herself and cast a protective spell. Aldar's sword collided with the invisible wall and sparks began flying as if it was scraping against flint. Back to the ground Aldar fell, preparing himself for the landing. He struck ground hard enough to begin peeling up asphalt in a six foot radius circle, cracking it in s similar form to a spider web. Knees slightly shacking from the impact, Aldar stood back up, fighting for the existence of Lydia and only two and a half minutes to go. It didn't matter though, he had accomplished what he had set out to do. He noticed that Naria had picked a few moonwisps before making it back to the battlefield. "Here **brother**", Naria scoffed, throwing the blue flowers to him. "Take them. You're correct in thinking that I still need her alive for now. So take them and go. And the next time we meet, I will not hold back." She then added in frustration.

"This is too easy." Aldar thought to himself as he began plucking the falling flowers out of the air. He glared back at his sister only to see her charging in quickly while he was distracted. He jumped backward to dodge her attack and rather than cutting her with the soul eater, he spun around and planted the heel of his right boot into her left cheek. Her eyes widened from the pain of the kick's impact, and was consequently thrown around six feet away from Aldar before striking the ground. Her mist wings had dissipated and she was now struggling to stand back up. "Why? Why won't you just destroy me with the soul eater?" She asked through her teeth and her swollen cheek. Aldar began walking away before answering her question. "**Tell me! Why don't you ever strike me with your sword?**" She screamed through the pain in her jaw. Aldar then stopped and answered while still looking away from her, "If I did, I'd be destroying my own family. And that would make me no better than you." He answered and then made a beeline for the door to the stone room. Defeated again, Naria simply screamed at the top of her lungs and turned her head toward the sky while closing her eyes tightly.

"One minute to go!" Aldar said to himself funning faster than he ever had before. He ran back up to the door and burst through, scattering Jacques all over the stone of the mystical room of Lydia's. He looked around for the girl and asked when there was no sign of her, "What happened to Lydia?" His eyes wide with panic. "Beetlejuice and Sierra took her through the upper door and back to her room to rest." Ginger informed him. Aldar then turned his gaze to the door at the top of the high staircase and launched himself once again as high as he could, landing six steps from the top and continuing on from there. He burst through to see Lydia tucked into her bed and Sierra keeping a cold wet wash cloth over her forehead and Beetlejuice was staring out the window keeping watch for her parents. Lydia's breathing was still shallow and there wasn't a whole lot of time for extensive preparation. He felt that it was alright since the remedy didn't require extensive preparation, it just tasted batter as a tea rather than what he was going to do. "Beetlejuice, get me a cup of warm water, quick." He sharply said to the guardian ghost. Beetlejuice jumped at the chance to do something for the sixteen year old girl and it was fortunate that he had time to get use to where things were in the house. He dashed out of the room and came back with a warm glass of water as instructed in less than fifteen seconds. Aldar then took one of the Moonwisps and dunked the entire flower, pedals and all, into the glass of water. The pollen then began mixing with the water, creating a velvet clout inside.

"Now I just need something to mix it with." Aldar said to himself slightly feeling silly. "Thought you might need something like that, so here's a spoon." Beetlejuice stated handing Aldar a tea spoon. Aldar looked at the metal object quizzically for a second then grabbed it in his right hand and stirred the glass in his left. The cloud of velvet began to spread to the rest of the water inside the glass. Eventually, all of the water inside of the glass had turned to a bright velvet color. Aldar repeated the process one more time with another flower and then finally moved over to the bed Lydia was resting in and propped her head up with his right hand and gently poured the velvet liquid down Lydia's throat. "It should take a few seconds to neutralize the poisons." Aldar informed then turned to Beetlejuice and added, "The fact that you're still here means that she's still alive." Just then Lydia began breathing more normally, her chest rising and falling more steadily as she inhaled and exhaled. Everyone made their sighs of relief knowing that she would finally be alright. "She's quite the girl, that one." Aldar stated to no one in particular. "That she is hun." Sierra solemnly responded to him. "It may take some time for her to fully recover. How are you feeling Beetlejuice." Aldar added to his earlier statement. Beetlejuice finally collapsed and answered, "I've started feeling its effects half way through the cycle. I'm a little weak but I'll be fine in the morning." He then morphed himself back into the hideous doll form and fell to sleep. Aldar gently picked up Beetlejuice in his left hand and placed him next to the right side of Lydia's head.

A few more hours went by before both Aldar and Sierra heard the sound of car door being shut. "That must be Lydia's parents." Sierra began panicking. "Quick, back into the closet." Aldar thought quickly, leading Sierra back to the stone room and shutting the door behind him. They then made their way to the base floor to inform Ginger and the now fully assembled Jacques about the situation. "Looks like Lydia's parents are here, and Lydia herself will be alright. It seems that I got back in time." Aldar said to them.

"Lydia, we're home." Delia called once she entered the front door. Charles came in seconds after her and they waited for the girl to come down stairs and greet them with her warm smile. When she never emerged, Delia began to worry. "Charles, do think she's ok." She asked her husband. She found him over at a nearby window, looking out of it at something. "Her bike is still here. Maybe she's just taking a nap or something." He responded, trying to hide his own worry. "I'll go check on her." Delia said to him as she made her way upstairs to Lydia's room. She slowly approached the door to her stepdaughter's room to be careful to be considerate. Griping the round door knob with her left hand and turning it till it clicked and then pushed the door open gently, slowly, until she could see Lydia resting peacefully in her bed. She could still tell that something was off and seeing the girl didn't ease her worries at all. Delia slowly opened the door completely and then began making her way to her. She soon sat on the edge of the bed to Lydia's right side and gently placed her hand on the girl's forehead to perhaps comfort herself. Her fears heightened when she felt Lydia's burning forehead. Delia's eyes widened and she dashed out of the room to call to her husband, "Charles, come here. Lydia's burning up." Charles dropped his pursuit for a snack and hurried upstairs to his daughter's room.

In a matter of minutes, they had taken Lydia's temperature and checked to see if there was anything else wrong with her. When everything but the fever and a slight cough checked out, Charles gave a sigh of relief, "I seems to be a simple cold. Lydia must have gone to bed early to sleep it off." "But don't you think that she would have woken up from all of the noise we've made?" Delia said still worried. "Please don't look in the closet." Aldar thought to himself worrying more and more that the longer the parents stay in her room the more likely they are to discovering Lydia's new "friends". Suddenly, they heard a small groan come from Lydia as she began to stir in her bed. "Lydia!" Charles exclaimed. "What's all of the noise?" Lydia asked still delirious. She began sitting up in her bed and placed her right and against her forehead to attempt to hold back the migraine. Still weakened and feeling sick to both her head and stomach, she flopped back down to her pillow. From inside her closet Aldar looked on in pure awe and shock. "Incredible she regained consciousness so fast. Is this 'human'?" He began asking himself. "It looks like she'll be ok." Sierra whispered from underneath Aldar's head. Apparently she too had snuck a peek at the bed ridden Lydia out of worry. "Yes, it looks like it." Aldar trailed off still thinking about his earlier question. They watched as both parents gave the girl a warm caring hug and began asking her what was wrong. "I'm ok mam, it's just a cold." Lydia told Delia to reassure her. "Is there anything we can get you?" Charles asked. Lydia simply smiled at her father and shook her head. "I'll bring you up a glass of orange juice in an hour. Ok?" Charles insisted before leaving the room.

The whole scenario reminded Aldar of a time when the Angelic Queen would care for him when he injured himself during training or while playing. It was almost nostalgic. The scenario also reminded Sierra of the times of when she was alive and a little girl. Her father would almost baby her whenever she would go out to play and even begin to panic when she got hurt in any way. Both of them shed tears as the memories played in their minds and Sierra whipped them from her face with her webbed hands.

Once both Delia and Charles left the room and closed the door behind them, Aldar opened Lydia's closet the rest of the way and signaled for Ginger and Jacques to hurry up the stairs. The two had made themselves comfortable by sitting themselves down on the stone bed on the base floor of the stone room. When Aldar signaled for them to come up the stairs, they both jumped off of the stone bed and made their way up the stair case as fast as they could. Sierra slipped into Lydia's bedroom in front of Aldar while he was waiting for the tardy twosome. "How y'all feeling Lydia?" She asked her friend. "Lydia placed her right hand back onto her forehead and replied, "Still a little sick but I'll live. What happened?" "Hard to say exactly." Sierra solemnly stated. "The spider silk must have failed somehow." Aldar answered for her. "Y'all seem to know an awful lot about the spider silk, hun. Mind sharing?" Sierra retorted. "Yes I do, but not here. I'll tell you guys everything I know in the Nietherworld. You need to get some rest for now and get back later tomorrow. Read this in the mean time." Aldar answered and then tossed Lydia a small leather bound book. "What's this?" Lydia asked. "That's one of the Angelic Journals. This one explains the Angelic Queen's research on the spider silk." He explained and then headed back toward the closet door.

Once the rest of them had exited the bedroom and back into the Nietherworld, Lydia watched as her closet faded back from the stone room to the wooden shelves and coats she had hung up in there. She then opened the journal and proceeded to read all that she could. The contents of the journal taught her that the spider silk is mostly a mystery and no one knows the true extent of its powers. She learned that only three others before had ever possessed it and that no one knows who created it. She did learn, however, that the spider silks limits are determined by the bearer. "So the spider silk gave out because I gave out?" Lydia asked herself confused and just giving herself even more of a headache. She looked over and eventually found the hideous doll lying on her left. "I guess we'll learn more in time." She whispered to herself. She then placed the book near her pillow on her right side, pulled the covers back over her shoulder and went back to sleep.

End of Chapter 9


	10. Episode 10 I'm Sorry

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Chapter 10: I'm Sorry**

In a matter of days, Lydia had fully recovered from the toxic air of the Neitherworld and had read the Angelic Journal that Aldar had given her from cover to cover. It seemed odd to seek out and read someone else's journals and it even seemed a little like prying. Nonetheless, she read the journal till she nearly had it memorized, hoping to find any bit of information she may have missed in the times that she read it before. "What are ya reading Lydia?" Prudence asked her during lunch period, noticing that Lydia's head was up in the clouds for most of the day, so far. "Huh?" Lydia was torn from the journal with a start. "Sorry Prudence. It's a journal of sorts. I discovered it in my house last night and have been trying to make sense of some of the things written in it." "Let me see it." Prudence offered. She so loved books, in fact it was rare to see her without one. Lydia debated with the offer for a little bit before Ben arrived at the table. "What on the barby for today?" He asked in his Australian accent. "What took you so long?" Lydia asked, tearing away from Prudence's offer. "Had to find another lavatory. Apparently, some bloke wrote hateful words on the door of the closest one and the janitor closed it down to repaint. So, what's on the menu?" He informed his friends. "Glue tasting grilled cheese sandwiches or bland Sloppy Joes." Bertha stated. Ben showed an expression of grim dislike before proceeding to the lunch line while mumbling, "I knew I shoulda brought me own."

"So, can I take a look at the journal?" Prudence threw back onto the table. 'She is smart. Maybe she'll make better sense out of it than I ever could.' Lydia thought to herself. Before she could hand over the journal, a large hand came in from behind her and snatched it away. "What's this? Your diary?" Lydia heard Adrian's voice coming from behind her as he plucked the journal from her grasp. Lydia turned around in shock and began to reach for it from where she stood, however José and Michael jumped in between and blocked Lydia's advance. "Give it back Adrian. It's important." Lydia begged, hoping that he would simply give it right back. Adrian flipped through the book a little and retorted. "What's the spider silk? Hah. Sounds dumb." 'Not as dumb as you.' Lydia thought to herself. "Just give it back." She begged again reaching in between José and Michael with her right arm. Adrian simply made a little smirk towards her and coyly said, "Go out with me and we'll see." Lydia was appalled at his request. "What? Are you crazy? No frigging way!" Adrian selected a page out of the book and began tugging on it as if he was meaning to tear it out of the bindings. "That's too bad. It looks like I'll just have too..." Suddenly a sharp pain in his right shin made him break his sentence and drop the journal. It was caught by little Prudence who promptly escaped behind her friends with the book clutched closely to her chest. "Ow. You little bitch! I'm really gonna put your nose in a book now." Adrian threatened when he was finished grabbing at his pained shin.

"It seems like you blokes are in need of another knuckle sandwich each." Ben's voice came from behind Adrian. When Adrian turned around to confront his adversary, he was greeted with a heap of tasteless sauce and phony meat substance. Adrian collapsed to the ground on his butt and the other two stood by to catch their leader. "Unfortunately, all I had was a Sloppy Joe." Ben then added to his earlier statement with a smirk on his face. The rest of the lunch room had seen the whole thing play out from when Adrian snatched the book from Lydia and began bursting out laughing. It seemed like Adrian now had both Sloppy Joe and egg on his face when he got up and ran from the laughing crowd of people, humiliated. José and Michael stood by and looked at each other for a few seconds before retreating themselves. "Now that's a couple of smart kids, there." Ben then admitted after watching them run away. "That was a right brave thing you did there, Prudence." Prudence simply stood behind Bertha continuing to hug the Angelic Journal clutched in her hands, saying nothing. "You'd better let her read the book now, Lydia. She won't let it go for the rest of the day." Bertha informed her. "Ok." Lydia trailed off with slight confusion. She then leaned down to speak with the now defensive Prudence. "Take good care of it for me, alright?" Lydia asked kindly. Prudence slowly nodded in agreement while continuing to hug the journal. She stayed defensive throughout the rest of the lunch period and barely ate anything. Ben was down his tasteless Sloppy Joe, but still had grapes, two percent milk, a stale roll, and something resembling baked beans on his plate.

The bell rang to end the school day and Prudence had finally settled down enough to place the journal in her back pack. "I'll take Prudence home, so she isn't constantly looking over her shoulder." Bertha said to Lydia and Ben. "Should I join? Ya might need my protection." Ben stated, worried about his friend's safety. "Is that alright?" Bertha asked Lydia. "What are you asking me for?" She retorted questionably. "It's not like he's my brother or anything. It does sound like a good idea though." "I'll just have ta explain to me gramps the situation." Ben stated. Lydia then suddenly noticed Adrian, José, and Michael emerge from the front doors of the school. "Speak of the devil, I think we all should get moving now." Lydia mentioned while motioning with her head in the direction of the bullies. The rest of them turned toward where Lydia had motioned at and also noticed the bullies looking for them. "Let's go this way." Prudence finally said with her voice close to a whisper. She pointed toward the direction of her house and began leading her friends to possible safety.

They made it across the street from the school when Adrian's voice could be heard yelling, "There they are! This way guys!" "Prudence, how far is it to your house from here?" Ben asked worried for his safety and health. "Too far." Prudence answered just as worried. "Put the book in your back pack and guard it with your life." Lydia ordered, stepping in front to attempt to protect her friends. The bullies continued on with their pursuit of their targets, intent on "getting even" with them. Lydia tried standing her ground to no avail. She wasn't able to wear the spider silk in the Outerworld and that left her vulnerable. Thoughts began running through her head. Thoughts like, "Can I endure their beating after just surviving being poisoned?" as well as, "What will happen if he hits me hard enough? Can I handle his punch even in peak condition?" She would soon find out, as Ben darted in front of her to head the bullies off before reaching them, however, he was soon confronted by José.

"You got the jump on me last time, hombre. But now, I'm ready to fight you." José claimed. The two raised their fists to defend themselves and then began circling each other. All the while Michael and Adrian continued on to the girls. "Prudence." Lydia turned her gaze to her miniature friend with a look of worry and a twinge of fear, "Run!" Prudence hesitated at first, worrying for her friends who were protecting her. "**Get out of here and go home, Prudence!**" Lydia shouted. If nothing else, Prudence fled out of a sense of fear. Lydia then turned toward Bertha, "Protect her till she gets home, Ok?" Frightened and confused, Bertha slowly nodded and turned to follow her lifelong friend. In an attempt to at least slow them down, Lydia removed the backpack from her back and began spinning it by the straps. When it gained enough momentum, she hurled it at Adrian, who avoided the bag easily. However, it struck Michael in the face and he toppled to the ground, on his back. 'It's a good thing that the science book weighs around fifty pounds by itself' Lydia thought to herself. Just then Adrian snagged the sides of her school uniform at the kidneys and tackled Lydia to the ground. Lying on her back and seemingly helpless, Lydia kicked and thrashed to get the large bully off of her. He instead, put more pressure on the place at where he gripped her uniform. The fabric pulled tightly against the skin of her stomach and pressed in like the back side of a knife. Pain shot through her body as she screamed out as if she was being cut open while alive and not sedated. "Not so tough are ya now? Hun, girlie?" Adrian said, feeling the rush of complete dominance flow through him. He tugged harder on her uniform until the buttons began popping off, one by one, until he exposed her light violet bra, and even then he pressed down as hard as he could on her shoulders to keep her pinned.

During all of this, Ben was feeling both the pain from Lydia's fight and his own as well as Lydia feeling the pain of every punch and kick Ben received. Ben's fight wasn't easy at all. Apparently, José had spent his life training to be a pro mixed martial arts fighter and had finally gotten used to timing Ben's strikes. Ben was beginning to slow down from the pain of all of the punches and also was distracted by the pain he felt from Lydia's fight as well. José came in with a left cross punch and Ben was too tired to dodge within a few minutes of the fight. When the punch connected, Ben's head whipped around as his body followed. He lost his balance and almost blacked out before he even hit the ground.

Lydia, still in pain from the pressure Adrian was placing on her shoulders witnessed her guardian ghost collide with the ground and refuse to get back up. Suddenly, she felt, and heard her shoulders pop backward and the intense pain made her let out a blood curdling scream. Tears began rolling down her cheeks as the pain lingered and even intensified as Adrian leaned in, placing even more pressure on her dislocated shoulders, and whispered in her ear, "This is going to be fun...for me anyways."

José looked down at Ben with a slightly concerned expression and said to him, "Your heart just wasn't in it, man. I thought you were stronger than that." His words weren't meant to mock Ben in his beaten form but to try to encourage him to rise once more. Ben simply grunted, "You get your 'thug' off of my friend and you'll see a real fight." José looked on at Adrian only to watch him place his face so close to the girl's that he might as well be kissing her neck. "Adrian!" José called to him, appalled and sickened. "What are you doing man? It wasn't supposed to go this far." "Shut up José! I know what I'm doing." Adrian demanded with a mean and possessive tone. The Spanish boy watched in horror as his so-called-friend began molesting a sixteen year old girl. Unable to move her arms, Lydia was nearly helpless and with Adrian controlling the situation, she could only hope that her guardian ghost would rise to his feet and rescue her before she was violated.

A good swift kick to Adrian's face was what it took to get him off of Lydia. But the kick didn't come from either Ben or José. Apparently Michael had gotten up from Lydia's assault, and witnessed Adrian doing that to Lydia. With a bloody nose he reared back his leg and swung it upward as hard as he could, connecting it to Adrian's face, right in between the eyes. Adrian lost consciousness the moment Michael's foot collided with his face and was thrown back and off of Lydia. After the tension subsided, both Michael and José stood where they were, Michael to Lydia's left, and José just a few feet in front of Ben, both staring at the ground in shame of their friend's actions. It was so quiet, you could hear the sound of the gentle gusts of wind as they danced by gracefully.

Finally José broke the silence, "You can get up amigo. Take your friend to the hospital to get her arms fixed up. We'll take Adrian home and give him a good taking to, ya know." Woozy and barely able to see straight, Ben stood up to lift Lydia to her feet. Suddenly a white Toyota sedan whipped around the corner as José and Michael began dragging Adrian off. The sedan pulled around and Prudence's mother quickly opened the driver side door with a genuinely worried look on her face. "Are you two alright? Prudence told me that her friends were in trouble. So I came to break up the fighting." She exclaimed before noticing that Lydia's shirt was torn open. "Oh, goodness, are you alright dear. They didn't hurt you did they?" Lydia was still in too much pain to answer her outright, so she simply looked at Ben with a weary look of always present pain and sadness written in her eyes. "Her shoulders are dislocated, miss. We need to get her to the hospital quickly." He answered for her.

The ride to the hospital was like most of her trips to the hospital, rushed and quick. The scenery flew by when she gazed out of the window. The only difference this time was that the wounds weren't self inflicted. She had stopped doing things like that when she met an inspiring short lived friend in Oregon named James. He taught her that life was worth living to the very end and was soon parted when she moved away. The last she remembered hearing of him was that he started working at becoming a police officer when he was shot in the back by a local gang banger. He survived the attack but she never heard from him since. She returned to her reality when the sedan came to a gentle stop in a parking space at the emergency entrance of the hospital. It was pretty decent for a small town like Peaceful Pines, and probably had a decent amount of money donated into it. Lydia was rather impressed as she gazed painfully at the bright red and white rectangular building adorned with clear bluish glass windows. With her still unable to move her arms very well, Ben and Prudence's mother helped her out of the car and into a wheelchair and wheeled to the nurse at the front desk, where Prudence's mother explained the situation. Lydia was then rushed through a series of similar doors and into an operation room where the doctors put her to sleep with a sedative.

Ben was also being looked at and gave the nurses a hard time by squirming around and causing a ruckus. In the end, the nurses decided to simply place ice packs on his swollen areas and patch up his wounds. Prudence's mother dialed out to her daughter. "Honey, it's mom. Do you have a phone number for me to call your friends' parents?" She asked. Prudence proceeded by giving her the phone number for Lydia's parents. "Thanks honey. I'll swing by and pick you and Bertha up to visit your friend when she comes out of surgery." Prudence's mom said. "Surgery!" Prudence gasped loudly into the phone. "Yes, the girl's shoulders were both dislocated, the doctors are just going to put them back into place. I'm going to call their parents to tell them of the situation. What was the phone number of the boy's parents?" Prudence could only answer with what information Ben had divulged to her. "He lives with his grandfather in the woods near the town. Apparently, the old man doesn't believe in telephones." She answered. "Oh, well that's certainly different. I guess we'll just have to try and locate him the hard way then." Prudence's mother surmised. "There'll be no need for that." Ben stated after approaching the woman. She nearly jumped out of her skin from being startled by the reckless boy. "Sorry about that miss. Didn't mean to startle ya." He said bashfully. "What do you mean that it won't be necessary?" Prudence's mom asked while Prudence was still on the other line listening. "Me grandpa will find out when I get back home. I can tell him then. I just don't want you worrying him into a heart attack." Mrs. Copperton thought about it for a short while and assumed that the boy knew what he was doing. "Alright Ben, but I'm dropping you off near the forest. Is that clear?" Ben looked at her slightly uncomfortable then he finally answered, "Crystal."

It was some time till Lydia left surgery and Ben was feeling every cut the doctors placed onto Lydia's body. By now, Delia and Charles arrived at the hospital to see if their daughter was alright. Ben looked at them in shame for his defeat. "I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Deetz. I wasn't able to protect Lydia this time." "You little..." Delia began in an emotional rage. "Easy, Delia. It's not his fault. He tried." Charles tried to calm down his wife. "Tell me what happened." The words that left his mouth were serious in tone and demanding in feel. His eyebrows were lowered in frustration of his powerlessness and anxiety. Ben looked at Charles and shamefully began recounting the events that occurred. While Prudence and her mother sat in the chairs as close as they could get to the operating room without leaving the lobby area. Prudence was reading the Angelic Journal that Lydia entrusted to her just to see why Lydia would hesitate to loan it to her. Half of the things written in the journal hardly made sense to her. Something about a red cloak called the spider silk and writings about its mysterious origin and different studies on its capabilities and powers. She read about how at one point the spider silk had the power to create blades of light in its wielder's hands and another time when it caused the wielder to enter a state of raw uncontrolled rage and power. Most of the abilities written in it were so erratic that it was difficult to make proper sense of it. She even read in a particular entry that the spider silk even gave its third wielder the ability to fly at high speeds. 'This doesn't even seem like a regular book at all. It's like it's a research journal.' Prudence thought to herself still engrossed in the books contents. Still trying to make sense out of the words written on the pages she closed the book again and started reading back from page one.

Just then the nurse came back out to speak with the party that brought in Lydia. Prudence's focus was interrupted the moment she heard her friend's name and made her way to the group of parents speaking to the nurse. "She's going to be alright. I suggest she take her activities easy and nothing rigorous for the next few weeks. She'll also have to go through some exercises to maintain her arm movements just to be sure." Was what the nurse had to say. "Can we go see her?" Prudence blurted out. The nurse looked at the tiny girl slightly surprised and then answered, she's sedated for now, but I think it's alright. Follow me."

The nurse led them back toward one of the many rooms for their patients on the second floor of the building. There, lying in a hospital bed in the room numbered two hundred and fourteen was Lydia. She was wearing a light blue hospital gown and had bandages wrapped around her shoulders, the bed sheets covering her up to her breast line. She was sleeping peacefully and breathing as if there was no pain. Both Charles and Delia nearly broke down to merely see Lydia in the hospital. Ben, however, actually began to silently cry from the torment he knew she went through. He stood there and shut his eyes to try and blot out the images running through his head as tears welled up more than he could contain and they ran down his cheeks while he clenched his fists tightly, keeping them down at his sides. She wasn't hooked up to any life supporting machines, though you would have thought she was by their initial reactions. She finally began to stir and let out a small groan, alerting all of her inevitable awakening.

Lydia's eyes slowly opened and she blinked a few times as she regained enough consciousness to be aware of herself. She first allowed her eyes to adjust to the light before looking around at her strange surroundings. She found herself in a small room filled with monitoring equipment that she recognized. The events of the fight still fresh in her mind, she began to wonder where Ben was and if Prudence had made it home safely. She was alone in the room and she was pretty certain that she had woken up more than three times during her sedation and probably displayed some crude and humorously embarrassing behavior. She looked around the room to find something that could tell her exactly where she was and what day it was. Eventually she found a small dry erase board with the words "Lydia Deetz", "Shoulder Dislocation", and "Wednesday" written on it. A set of numbers underneath the word "Tuesday" told her that it was the eighteenth day of September. Lydia plopped her head back onto her pillow and sighed, "Less than a day, huh." She looked over to her left arm and noticed the needle strapped to it injecting doses of pain killer into her blood system every now and then. She began to think to herself about the events that happened so far and the valuable help of her guardian ghost so far. 'Maybe it's time I forgave him completely?' She thought to herself. 'He's probably at school right now.' She smiled and slightly chuckled to herself. She felt a sharp pain shoot through her shoulders and down her arms as she did so and cringed at the sensation.

Back at school, Ben sat at his desk fidgeting with his pencil, worried sick about Lydia's predicament until he felt the pain of a needle shoot through both his arms. 'Lydia must be awake.' He thought to himself. He had been meaning to desperately apologize for being so weak the other day. He also had about two days worth of homework and studying for Lydia to do. He knew that Bertha and Prudence were probably worried about her as well, but telling them on a simple feeling may make things overly complicated. He decided to keep his mouth shut and make an effort to keep their spirits up.

When lunch time approached, Ben was once again approached by Claire Brewster. "So, where's Lydia today, huh?" She asked coyly. Ben simply looked away from the snotty blonde girl and answered honestly. "She's in the hospital." He answered. Claire's eyes widened from the shock of that news and she instinctively asked, "Why? What happened?" Ben looked around slightly surprised at Claire's reaction. "Adrian dislocated her shoulders. Why are you so worried?" He quizzically responded. Claire snapped to her reality as she made a desperate attempt to salvage her prissy reputation. "I, uh, was just curious. So, now that she's out of the picture, you wanna take me to the Spirit Week dance next Friday?" She soon ate her words as Ben got upset at the way she disregarded the injury of another. "Look Claire, Lydia was the first friend I ever made since I got here. I'd actually prefer to take her. She actually gives a shit about people other than herself. Now beat it!" Mentally kicking herself Claire reacted in the only way she knew how, "Fine see if I care from now on. You didn't have to be a dick about it." After returning harsh words with harsh words, she grabbed Ben by the shoulder, turned him around and slapped him in the face. The same side that still was sore from José's punch. And then she stormed off out of the lunch room to cool herself down. As she left, Ben gave off a pained shriek that shattered both eardrums of Bertha and Prudence.

She stormed all of the way back to her locker, which happened to be only three doors to the right of Lydia's. Claire found herself slightly nostalgic thinking about the new girl. Gazing up at the numbers of Lydia's locker, which were two hundred and thirty seven, Claire mentally kicked herself for acting the way she did, and she then leaned in and rested her forehead against Lydia's locker and silently cried to herself. "Why did I slap him?" She asked herself out loud. "What's so special about you, Lydia? He never even notices my advances around you. Even when you aren't around he thinks about you."

While Claire was brooding over herself, Bertha sat in her seat feeling sorry for the poor girl. "She was just trying to cheer you up, you know? She has the biggest crush on you." She said to Ben while drinking her milk through a drinking straw. She gave Ben a look of disappointment and irritation. Still slightly irritated, Ben huffed and began thinking about the way Lydia might handle a situation like that. "Just go and apologize to her and I'm pretty sure that she may apologize back." Bertha added to her earlier statement. "Get off me back." Ben huffed at her. "Look, she's **my** friend too, ya know. And Claire seemed more upset then angry, anyway." Bertha retorted. "Ever since she's been in the hospital, you've been an ass." Prudence nervously said. Somehow, that caused Ben to reflect on the words he said to Claire. He buried his face into his arms in shame and thought about how he could find the blond girl. Suddenly, the bell rang. Effectively ending the lunch period and the two girls got up and started making their way to their next class. Ben then solemnly stood up and emptied his lunch tray into the nearest trash can before heading to his own class. Suddenly, it clicked in, 'Claire shares English class with Lydia and I. I can apologize to her before class starts.' He thought to himself, and then hurried to the English class.

Alas, he waited till he could see Claire walk in through the door, but it never happened. Then teacher began role call and Claire apparently was marked absent. Now Ben was worried about Claire. 'What's going on? She never misses class, no matter how much I reject her.' He thought to himself. 'I have to go find her.' He thrust his hand upward to catch the teacher's attention. "Yes, Ben? What is it?" "I need to head to the lavatory. It's an emergency." He blurted out in a slight lie. "Fine," The teacher, a graying, wrinkled seventy three year old man that freakishly resembled Einstein. "But, take care of it **before** class next time." He added. Ben simply responded, "Yes sir", and dashed to grab the hall pass and hurry to find Claire.

He found the girl in the same place she came too when she left. A small feeling led Ben to Lydia's locker and he saw her there, she had apparently dropped to her knees and continued sobbing away, her fists against Lydia's locker, her cheeks stained with tears and her makeup ruined form all of the crying. He silently crept up to her and gently placed his left hand on her right shoulder. She jumped from the shock of the sudden feeling and found that Ben had come to comfort her. Relieved and somewhat still angry at herself, she dropped her arms to the linoleum floor and stared at the ground just in front of her knees.

"Look, I'm sorry for yelling at you during lunch." He solemnly said to her in a near whisper. Her eyes opened nearly all the way when she heard him apologize first. He was gazing at the floor just in front of the lockers in shame and defeat. "I'm just worried for Lydia and, in a way, I blame me self for not being able to protect her as a friend." He turned his gaze back to Claire to finish his apology, "I shouldn't have taken it out on you like that." Claire looked at Lydia's locker once again before saying in her own near whisper, "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have said those things the way that I did. I didn't mean any disrespect to her, I'm just used to having all of the attention, I guess. I really was concerned when you told me she was in the hospital. I'm probably just over conscious about my stupid reputation, I guess." "I'll take you to the Spirit Dance if you tell me your story." Ben blurted out. Surprise caught Claire by the hair and whipped her head back to look at the Australian boy in shock. "What about..." Claire began to ask. Ben interrupted her with, "Don't you worry about Lydia. I'm sure she'll understand if I tell her the truth." Claire then smiled the gentlest smile he had seen from her since arriving in the Outerworld, and then said somewhat coyly, "We'll see Ben." Satisfied with that answer, Ben stood up and extended his hand to Claire, offering to help her up. "Shall I escort you to English class miss?" He asked her in a gentlemanly tone. She took his hand and allowed him to gently pull her up to her feet and they walked, as friends, back to the class room.

Later that day, Ben visited Lydia in the hospital. "Hey Ben. Good to see you." Lydia said still groggy. "Look, I think I need to finally forgive you for turning me in to Naria. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't exist today." Ben solemnly responded in humility, "Yah, but if it wasn't for me, you probably wouldn't have had to go through all of that anyway." "Actually, I'd be still stuck in the Nietherworld being chased by sand soldiers and sand worms." Lydia reminded him. Ben simply smiled at his friend and finally said to her, "I'm taking Claire to the Spirit Week dance next Friday." Lydia simply shot her eyes open and shouted, "What?"

End of Episode 10


	11. Episode 11 The Secret of the Spider Silk

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 11: The Secret of the Spider Silk**

Page by page, Prudence studied and read through the journal handed to her from Lydia. Her friend, now in the hospital, was unable to fully interpret the contents of the mysterious book and the responsibility was now passed to her, and she was not going to let her friend down. Lydia was willing to put her life seemingly on the line for the protection of this simple brown leather bound book with no title. The only thing that Prudence could make out on the front cover was an embossed image of a winged angel with a tiara on her forehead. So far she was able to decipher that the book was just a lot of research material about something known as the spider silk robe, and that it was an ancient mystical item from somewhere called the Neitherworld. She also confirmed that it granted different powers to different people, but nothing in the book told her why the powers differed from person to person or what it's source of energy was.

Only half of the book seemed to have been written in and it wasn't long till the small girl had gotten completely frustrated trying to rack her brain over the blotched and scattered information written in the book. Suddenly the pages in the back half of the book began shining as if the light from her window caused them to sparkle. At first, the small statured Prudence was bedazzled and dumfounded at the spectacle the book gave off, but then found herself turning the pages of the journal that shined in the light. Once she turned to the first shimmering page she noticed written words were on them that she hadn't noticed until now, and no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to peel her eyes away from them.

She began reading aloud to herself, "Outerworld date: August fifteenth, fifteen ninety four. I wracked my mind on the possibilities of the spider silk's capabilities. Time after time information on its true nature continues to elude me and I continue to confuse myself. But as long as it exists, I'll try to understand its potential. I don't even know where it is located and even that information eludes me. I guess I'll have to continue my research some other time.

Outerworld date: August twenty eight, fifteen ninety four. I continued my research on the spider silk and discovered that its original creator happens to be Arachnis Widow. In the Nietherworld, she was a well known weaver and well known for her finest silk and spellweaving, a technique that weaves magic directly into the fabric. Note to self: I must find out what happened to her."

Prudence continued reading as if entranced by the pages. She turned to the next page in the book and read aloud to herself, "Outerworld date: September fourteenth, fifteen ninety four. I've discovered that the famous Arachnis Widow had hidden herself away the moment she found out that one of her spellwoven pieces had been used to destroy another soul in cold blood. At that very moment, every spellwoven piece of fabric strewn throughout the Neitherworld had vanished into thin air. Curious. I wonder what happened to them.

Outer world date: December first, fifteen ninety four. Before continuing on my research of the spider silk, I must inquire of the Seer to help me find a way to the Underworld to hopefully stop **him** once and for all. I only hope that my plan works."

Prudence skipped ahead a couple of pages skimming the words of the entries. Most of them described the preparations she made for her plan to stop the ruler of the Underworld's attempts to tear down the Spirit Gates and send his armies of demons to conquer the other worlds. She then came upon a particular entry that read, "Outerworld date: December twelfth, sixteen ten. Soon, I must stop my research of the spider silk and work on protecting my unborn child. I was afraid of giving birth at first, but many mothers tell me that it is the greatest joy any of the worlds could offer. I don't know about that, but I must certainly raise my child as I have the two Rosedale children. I also have discovered that the spider silk must choose its bearer through a test of its own design. If only I could find it.

Outerworld date: February fifth, sixteen eleven. My child was born last week and now I must focus my efforts on raising him. He is a fine child and naturally strong."

Prudence moved her gaze to the next and final entry of the journal. "Outerworld date: August twenty, eight sixteen eleven. Naria fooled us all. She discovered a power to overcome and tame the sand worms' beastly will. As the sand worms attack, I've taken precautions to hide my child and my journals to make sure they never fall into the wrong hands. I only hope that he grows up noble and strong, I won't be here to watch him grow up. Farewell..." Prudence watched as the ink and the sheen of the paper faded away the moment she finished reading the unfinished farewell. Bedazzled and in sheer awe, she continued watching until the ink faded back into the paper. Once the paper became blank once again, Prudence blinked her eyes and her trance was broken. She clearly remembered everything she had read, but the strange thing was how it came into being and then vanished once again. "I think Lydia's got some explaining to do." The small statured girl said to herself before closing the book and stretching out her muscles. She gazed at her clock just to her right on her reading desk in her shabby, unkempt, messy room. She spent around four hours engrossed in the journal before witnessing the shining paper and the magic ink, she decided to hop down from her chair and make her way to the kitchen of her house for something to eat.

Questions ran through her head asking, "What was then name of the child? Where was the father? What exactly **is** the spider silk?" These questions begged to be answered and she knew who to ask, but she needed to wait until she cornered Lydia before confronting her about it.

Another day in the hospital and Lydia spent most of it worrying about Ben's decision to take Claire to the Spirit Week dance at the end of next week. "Should I be happy for him, or should I scold him for even thinking about taking her out like that?" Her thoughts flooded through so fast, she barely had time to recognize them in order to put them into words. "He has to have his reasons for doing this. But, what if he's making a big mistake and ends up no longer my friend?" Lydia's mind was about to explode from all of the thoughts and questions flowing through her subconscious. Suddenly, the nurse interrupted her thinking and said to her, "It's time to do your exercises Lydia." The movements of her arms for recovery had all but stopped hurting now and she possibly could even leave the hospital tomorrow. However, she was told to take it easy until after the stitches were removed from her shoulders. 'I hope the others can hold out for another few weeks.' Lydia thought to herself as she moved her shoulder's up and down and eventually circled them around to regain full range of movement.

Meanwhile, in the Nietherworld, Aldar spent most of his time meditating while Sierra and the others salvaged what they could from Beetlejuice's old hiding place and began foraging for food. "Aldar, hun... Y'all think ye can break your meditation time ta help us with a 'lil somethin?" Sierra asked in her full southern belle accent. "What do you need?" He asked, still in meditation. Apparently he was adept at meditation enough to maintain it and pay attention to his surroundings at the same time. "We could use your help figurin out what ta do with all these crimson weapons." She smiled coyly. "You just want to spend time with me, don't you?" He guessed. "Is that wrong?" She asked even more coyly than before, interlocking her fingers behind her back and straightening her arms out to make an attempt to look innocent. Aldar opened his right eye to look at the love struck girl and gave in. He sighed and decided, "Maybe I can teach you to fight with a weapon." Sierra jumped at the thought of him giving her a sensei's "hands-on" training regimen. "Go outside and pick a weapon you would like to learn to use properly." He said. She ran outside to choose her weapon and looked at the piles of weapons recovered and sorted out. As she stared at the massive piles of spears, swords, and bow and arrows she tried to imagine how the training would go with each of them. In the end, she chose the crimson bow and arrows and brought them back to Aldar for training. There he was, still meditating in the same room she found him in before. She dropped to her knees in front of him to present her choice to him. "Archery, huh? You might want to pick up as many arrows as you can." Aldar stated after looking at the bow with his right eye and keeping his left eye closed.

Within the hour, Aldar located materials to build a small archery range. Using mattress stuffing and a cardboard box with a painted target on it he began his lessons on teaching Sierra how to shoot. He positioned her with her left foot forward and her right foot shoulder-length behind. "Grip the arrow in between your first and middle finger." He instructed, placing the knot of the arrow in her right hand and cupping his own over hers to allow her to feel the proper grip of an arrow. She felt his strong yet gentle hand covering her own as he moved over to place the bow in her left hand and again cupped his own over hers to ensure that her hand gripped the bow properly. He guided the bow up to her eye level and said, "Keep your eye on your target." He then used his free hand to reach over and guide the hand with the arrow in it and showed her how to knot an arrow to the string. "Now lift the bow slightly and pull the arrow and string back so that the fletching meets your cheek and you are staring straight down the shaft of the arrow." She did as she was instructed and held the arrow until he backed away slightly and said, "And release."

The arrow flew from the string's propulsion and promptly struck the makeshift target near the bottom edge of the box. Proud of herself, she looked over at her teacher with a sense of accomplishment. "Not bad." He said. "I completely missed the target on my first shot, and my target was twice as big as this one." That said, she almost squealed with glee. Then he looked at the pile of arrows she had brought with her and said, shoot them in sets of ten and then retrieve them from the target. I gotta go and make as many of these as I can." With that, he turned back toward the junk pile and began sifting through to locate whatever he could to build replacements.

He returned in an hour and Sierra's left arm and right fingers were starting to get rubbed raw. "Take a break and get those wrapped up." He advised, carrying his new makeshift targets. He looked over to his first target, which now looked more like chewed up swiss cheese, and found himself even more impressed with the Atlantian princess. Tired and sore, Sierra put her bow down and headed inside to patch up her wounds. Aldar, however, made his way over to the original target and noticed the extensive amount of holes punched through it. He replaced the chewed up target for a newer target and then followed Sierra into the Road House.

"You got better the more you did it." He said to her while she was fumbling to wrap up her scrapes and bruises and nearly chewed up flesh. He sat down in front of her and took over the aiding of her injuries. "Yah, I think I did." She said solemnly in defeat. She was hoping to spend more than three minutes with him during his training regimen. But, she was happy that he came in to help her with her bandages. He wrapped them so skillfully, so she had to ask, "It looks as if you've done this before." "Plenty of times. I've had to patch up many of my comrades wounds from the battlefield, many of which were dear friends." He responded in deep thought of sad memories. "I'm sorry." Sierra sadly apologized for bringing up bad memories. "It's alright. There's no way you could have known. It was the first rebellion against Naria's rule. In the end, she fed them all to the sand worms." He fell into a solemn despair in attempt to give his comrades a moment of silence as he bowed his head and closed his eyes. Sierra simply looked down toward her left in shame for making him sad. Finally he broke the silence and cheered her up at the same time, "I haven't shot arrows in a while, so I think I'll join you after you've rested for a bit." She smiled at the sentiment and nodded shyly.

Ben finished another day of school and proceeded to bring the homework to Lydia at her house now. Prudence follower suit as she ran to catch up with him to tell him about her mysterious find the night before. "Ben, wait up!" She called in her high pitched semi-nasally voice. Ben turned around to see who was calling him and noticed the small girl running toward him. "What's up Prudence?" He asked in question to her hurry. "I have a few questions to ask Lydia about this journal she loaned me." She answered him. "Such as?" Ben responded, raising his left eyebrow. Prudence didn't know whether or not to answer that question on account of looking crazy in her friend's eyes. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Was her decided response. "As some things I've seen you wouldn't believe. Try me." Ben urged. Prudence was completely surprised by the sudden nosey interest that Prudence had to ask Lydia. She backed away slightly with a small gasp and thought about the best possible answer to give him. Instead Ben backed off and smiled, "I guess I'll find out at Lydia's house anyway, so come on."

The two of them continued on toward Lydia's house to meet with her. Bertha caught up with them shortly before leaving the school grounds and joined them in their trek. Inside the remodeled (once thought to be haunted by demons) house, Lydia rubbed her shoulders before she moved them around to test her range of motion. "Man, I'm getting hurt in both worlds. At this rate, I'll probably make it to the other two in pieces." She mumbled to herself. Suddenly the door bell rang and she thought to herself that it might be a friend of Delia's or maybe Prudence's parents were still worried and checking in with her. Instead she heard Ben's accent from down stairs ask, "Is Lydia home, miss? I have her homework from school and these two want to know how she's doing." Knowing that Delia may still blame Ben for her getting hurt, she jogged to the staircase to stop her from scolding the poor boy.

"Why are **you** here?" Delia huffed to Ben when she saw him at the door. "I came to bring Lydia her homework." He responded awkwardly looking from side to side. Before Lydia could say anything to catch Delia's attention, the lady shut the door in the faces of all three of them. Lydia made her way down stairs and gave Delia a mean look that said, 'don't ever do that again', and re-opened the door to let her friends in. "Hi guys. What's every one doing here?" She asked. "I came to bring you your homework." Ben answered. "I came with, to see if you were doing alright." Bertha added. "I came to ask you about this book you loaned me." Prudence finally said with a stern look that clearly stated, 'this is more important'. Lydia looked at the small girl shocked at her demanding tone of voice and the serious look on her face. "They can come in." Delia said, "But you stay outside." She then pointed at Ben. Lydia finally turned to Delia and snapped, "What exactly are you blaming him for? Trying to protect me? It wasn't his fault that I got hurt, that was Adrian." Flabbergasted and shocked, Delia looked on as the group of four walked in through the door and up to Lydia's room to discuss important matters.

Down stairs, Delia made her way to Charles who was in the Living Room. She began to speak to him but no words found their way out of her mouth. "Ahb-ghe-ye-we..." She then gave up trying to talk to him and threw up her hands in defeat. She then proceeded to make her way to the kitchen to make herself something "unique" to eat.

In Lydia's room, Prudence wasted no time getting down to business. "What exactly **is** this thing, Lydia? Just last night, the pages shined like the full moon and magic words started appearing. I couldn't peel my eyes away from them." She sounded slightly scared and concerned for her friend. Lydia looked at her friend, shocked at her new found sense of forceful worry. She then nervously answered, "Honestly, I haven't the foggiest clue about it. I found the journal in my closet the day I moved in here and have been studying it ever since. What did the magic pages say?" Lydia explained and asked Prudence. "Wait, you believe me?" Prudence found herself asking. Lydia looked around the room and answered, "I've **had** the journal this whole time... you didn't think there was something sort of... mystical about it?" "And I've seen things beyond your imagination." Ben added. Slightly relieved and yet, still confused, Prudence began reciting the pages she read in the journal, word for word.

When she was finished, Lydia, Ben and Bertha were seen listening intently and intrigued at her story. "And that's it. It wasn't complete and whatever it happens to be, there seem to be more volumes of it." Prudence ended her explanation. 'You don't know the half of it.' Lydia thought to herself. "Something must have happened during those times." She said out loud. "My question is, why does she keep saying 'Outerworld date'?" Bertha added. "My best guess is that this could be made from a deranged witch, or it's from another dimension." Prudence guessed. The two then began discussing the random theories from movies, books and comic books that randomly popped into their heads between one another.

"We should call Sierra out here." Ben whispered to Lydia. "Why is that?" She whispered back. "Because they don't need to be involved in this. If they found out, they'll just worry about you too much and the Nietherworld is too dangerous for mortals right now." Ben explained. "That doesn't answer my question of 'why do we need Sierra'?" Lydia retorted. "Oh. Atlantian tentacles can slightly manipulate the memories of another. We need them to forget this event ever happened." Was Ben's response. Lydia thought about it for a while and decided that she didn't want her friends to get themselves hurt or put them in any danger at all. "Guys." She interrupted them. The two girls looked at Lydia with looks that asked 'what do you need?' "There's something you should see." She finished and proceeded with her full chant. "Although I know I should be weary. Still I venture someplace scary. Ghostly haunting I turn loose, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice." The room then transformed before their eyes. Frightened and in awe at the spectacle, they began looking around the room and Lydia said, "I'll be right back." She then opened the door leading to the Nietherworld and exited the stone room.

Lydia quickly made her way through the Nietherworld to locate and find her friend, knowing full well that Naria most likely knows of her presence by now. She dashed through the streets and located the Road House. Suddenly the sound of an arrow striking its target came from behind the long blue building. Lydia went behind cautiously to investigate and found the very person she was looking for. Sierra was shooting her bow and arrows at the mach-up target and finding that her practice was paying off more and more as she shot the arrows. "Sierra!" Lydia called to her friend. The Atlantian princess turned her head to see Lydia walking around and waiving to her. "**Lydia**!" She gasped. "What in the Sam Hill are y'all doing here? Naria probably has already sensed ya by now and is beginning to mobilize troops to capture ya." Lydia simply came up to her friend and said, "I just need your help right now. Is it true that Atlantians are capable of manipulating memories with their tentacles?" Sierra simply stared at her friend for a while in pure dumbfounded awe and simply answered, "Yes, we're capable of doing it only once in our existence. Why?" "I have two friends I want to keep out of this battle. Do you think you could alter both of their memories at once?" Lydia answered while giving an awkward "oops" look to Sierra. Sierra simply sighed in defeat and said, "You know, y'all are lucky that I haven't used that ability yet."

Ten minutes later, Lydia returned with Sierra in tow. Bewildered, both Prudence and Bertha gasped out loud, "What in the..." Beetlejuice stayed quiet, hidden in a corner to keep from attracting attention to himself. "Guys, I want you to meet Sierra. She's a friend that I met while in the 'other' world." Lydia explained. "Pleasure's all mine. If you don't mind, I'd like to greet you the way my people normally do." Sierra bluffed. Still stunned, Bertha managed to ask, "How... how... how's that?" The Atlantian princess then placed herself in between the two girls, brought Bertha down to Prudence's level, and closed her eyes. A few seconds of her concentrating to herself, the tentacles on her head began to move by themselves and placed their suckers along the two girls' temples. The suckers latched on and they fell into a deep trance.

Ten minutes passed by and finally Sierra dislodged her tentacles from the two girl's heads and both of them fell unconscious. "That, ought ta do it." Sierra said trying to catch her breath. "Sierra, why are you breathing so hard?" Lydia asked trying to figure out why her friend was suddenly exhausted. "Rewriting memories, takes a lot out of us." She admitted. "I'll just need to rest for a while is all." "I'll take her back to the Road House while you bring the two 'sleepy heads' back up to your room and pretend that it all never happened." Beetlejuice said, emerging from his corner. "Just make up something, and their minds'll fill in the blanks." Sierra panted as she was hoisted back up to her feet with Beetlejuice's help. "At least now I know more about the spider silk." Lydia whispered to herself, before proceeding to haul both Bertha and Prudence back to her room, one by one.

End of Episode 11


	12. Episode 12 The Spell

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 12: The Spell**

Colors were blurry and shapes very much indistinguishable. Lydia woke up from what she thought was a simple bad dream. It went similar to this... Lydia, Beetlejuice, Sierra, and Aldar received word from Ginger that Naria had sent an army of sand soldiers and sand worms to the small town of Desertalla, a dried up desert town that was solely modeled after the wild west back on Earth. Looking like something one would see in a cowboy movie, the town was divided in half with many businesses placed closest to the main road and houses more or less off in the distance. The town was crawling with sand soldiers and sand worms with random Wild West villagers of all kinds, zombies, skeletons, strange creatures that looked similar to lobsters and scorpions, some even representing snakes and lizards, were running around in a full on panic. "Aldar, take out the sand worms. The rest of us will deal with as many sand soldiers as possible. Beetlejuice, stay with me." Lydia gave out her orders as she formulated a quick strategy. Aldar nodded and dashed off toward the closest sand worm to him. Sierra pulled out an arrow from the quiver located on her back and knotted it onto the string set to shoot at any other soldiers carrying bows and arrows. The moment she spotted one, she released the arrow and struck him down. The soldier dissolved into a cloud of dust instantaneously and dropped his quiver and bow. She then knotted another arrow, aimed and fired at a charging soldier, striking him in the head. As she continued to slay her pursuers, she made sure to re-stock her arrows with the ones dropped by fallen soldiers.

The battle was going smoothly until Naria herself appeared and cast lightning cages around Beetlejuice, Aldar, and Sierra. The Atlantian knotted an arrow and fired in between the electric bars to attempt to take down another sand soldier. However, the electricity from the bars arched to the arrow's shaft and disintegrated it before it left the cage's exterior. "Give it up Lydia. There's nothing you can do now. Hand yourself over and we'll discuss the safety of your friends." Naria boasted. Before Lydia could say anything, Aldar called to her, "Run to us. Your barrier will protect you and divert the electricity." Without hesitation, Lydia did as she was told and ran to Beetlejuice who was a mere seven feet away from her. As predicted, the bars separated themselves the moment Lydia got close enough to the cage. "Come on, Beetlejuice. Move it." Lydia motioned to him, and he made his way out of the cage easily. Naria simply looked on as Lydia continued to free her other two friends in the same manner. 'Oh, what a marvelous power, the spider silk holds.' Naria thought to herself with a greedy smirk on her face. 'Oh how I want it.' She then called to her army of sand soldiers and sand worms, "Continue the attack. Crush them all and bring Lydia to me!"

The soldiers resumed their attack on the small group as Lydia felt the spider silk waning. "Guys, I don't think I can last much longer. The shield's starting to give out." Lydia Called to her friends. "Then let's end it now." Aldar stated just before he placed himself in the center of the army of soldiers. After bringing his sword across his right shoulder he spun himself in a tight circle repeatedly, slicing the wind and spinning faster and faster with each passing second. It wasn't long till he spun fast enough to create a small tornado and decimate the army by moving around the battlefield. Once the battlefield was cleared of soldiers' Aldar slowed down and finally stopped. He collapsed to the ground, exhausted as Lydia, Beetlejuice, and Sierra made their way over to him as quick as they could. Enraged at her brother, Naria spread her black mist wings and sped toward him, intent on ending his existence while he was down.

Lydia reached her friend just in time to watch the evil queen bounce off of the invisible shield, leaving a large crack in mid air. Beetlejuice grabbed Sierra by the hand while Lydia placed her own on Aldar's shoulder. She then called out, "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" The four of them vanished and reappeared in her bedroom, rather than the stone room in her closet. Out of breath, and ready to collapse, all four of them were happy to find a small amount of peace. "We're lucky you're around to get us out of jams like that." Beetlejuice stated before shifting to Ben. "I still need you to take them somewhere to rest up." Lydia said to her guardian ghost. "Right-o. I'm on it." He said and then vanished into thin air with them in tow. Suddenly Delia burst into Lydia's room and sternly asked, "Where is he, Lydia?" Surprised, Lydia asked her, "Who?" Delia looked at Lydia with slight anger in her eyes and again sternly answered, "Ben. I heard his voice in here. Where is he?" Fed up with Delia's unanswered and uncalled-for dislike of her friend, Lydia asked her, "Why do you dislike him so much?" Delia simply answered, "He let you get hurt. And you seem to be getting into more fights since you met him." Lydia slapped her right hand against her forehead, "I do not. That was only because Adrian wouldn't leave us alone. And the last I heard of him, he was in jail awaiting trial. (Which I'm going to have to testify at.)" Lydia argued. "We're not discussing this any further, young lady. You seem to get into too much trouble when he's around. You're not to have him over anymore. Is that clear?" Delia said before shutting the door to Lydia's room and walking down to the kitchen to prepare "dinner".

In the forest, Beetlejuice and the others appeared deep within. "Well, guess I'd better get started." He mumbled to himself. "With what?" Sierra asked curiously. Beetlejuice cracked his knuckles and answered, "Gotta build a cabin here to give us a place to stay for a while. He then reached into his coat pocket and began pulling out random junk that he had stuffed inside for emergencies. Suddenly the air behind them began warping and twisting around itself until it became transparent, showing a figure inside the Nietherworld. The figure slowly stepped through and stumbled forward with Sierra catching him in mid fall. The warped space then vanished in an instant leaving behind no trace that it had been manipulated at all. The figure then inhaled deeply and said, "I haven't stepped through a dragon's gate in a long time. That was a doozy." It was the Seer that had stumbled into the Atlantian princess' arms. "Been a while you two." He happily stated. "Seer? What are you doing here? How did you do that?" Beetlejuice began rambling in surprise. The Seer simply smiled and said, "I used a dragon's gate. It's a magical portal that only dragons can open." "Does that mean, y'all are a dragon?" Sierra asked. He scoffed slightly embarrassed, "Heavens no. It means I know a dragon." He then chuckled and said to them, "It seems that you all need a place to stay here in the Outerworld." Beetlejuice had a hard time letting this sink in his head, "Wait, how... how did you know **that**?" The old man simply looked at Beetlejuice through the corner of his left eye and smiled, "I told you, I can see the future." And with that, he began waving his hands at some of the surrounding trees.

In a matter of moments the scenario changed to the inside of a decent sized cabin. The place was in shambles and the furniture needed replacing. The three looked around in awe at what the Seer had accomplished. Each of them turned themselves to look at their new surroundings at their own pace, even Aldar was impressed. "What?" Was the only thing that came out of Sierra's mouth as she mouthed out her words with no sound. The Seer then collapsed to the ground with heavy breath. Beetlejuice quickly moved over to the ancient wizard to see if he was alright. "Are you oh kay, old man?" "Watch your tongue, young man. I'm only a couple thousand years old! Magic just takes more out of me than it used to, is all." The Seer retorted. "So this here cabin is legit, right. Not gonna disappear the moment you leave. (Which, I'm assuming you're gonna do soon.)" Sierra asked slightly curious. The Seer simply winked at her and vanished into thin air, almost as if he was never there in the first place. Baffled, the three of them looked around their new living quarters for the while.

The dinner table at Lydia's house was strangely quiet as Lydia found herself appreciating Delia's presence less and less. Delia prepared breaded chicken coupled with hot spices and ranch dressing and mashed potatoes and turkey gravy. Green beans were placed along the side, boiled in water with butter placed in the water to oil them up slightly, and asparagus alongside that. Lydia simply pushed around her asparagus and beans with her fork while laying her head in her right hand and looking angry. Sensing a disturbance between his daughter and his wife, Charles decided to speak up, "Do you two wanna talk about it?" "What's there to talk about? The 'Duchess' over here forbade my best friend to ever come back here." Lydia retorted. "I told you, young lady that you get into too much trouble when he's around." Delia argued. "And I told you that that wasn't **his** fault. Adrian wouldn't leave us alone. Ben tried protecting me, and all you're doing is blaming him for the whole thing, making him feel even worse about himself." Lydia had raised her voice in frustration at this point. "Go to your room young lady. You are grounded." Delia had also raised her voice. Lydia then gladly hopped down from her chair and quickly stomped back upstairs to her bedroom. She slammed the door as she walked in and stomped over to her bed and dropped, face-first into her pillow, sobbing and broken.

Back at her castle, Naria had hatched a risky scheme. She was mixing her spell inside her cauldron to add it to her arsenal. "Infuse the lost soul essence to a mirror shard..." As she spoke, she took a soul collected earlier form a sand worm in her hand and rubbed it into a shard of a broken mirror, carefully avoiding cutting her hand. She then dropped the mirror shard into the cauldron and began stirring while mumbling incoherent words to herself. Her method of stirring, however didn't involve placing a spoon into the cauldron, no. She simply hovered her left hand over the cauldron's bubbling contents and slowly moved it in a counter clockwise circle following the cauldron's rim. As she did this, the boiling contents of the cauldron began slowly spinning and stirring along with the speed of her hand. She continued this while mumbling incoherently to herself for around ten minutes. Finally she lifted her right hand to the cauldron and began waving them both for a time and reached into her pocket and pulled out a drawing of Lydia with her left hand. The drawing was masterfully perfect in every way possible, down to the lashes on her eyes. Naria, then hovered her right hand over the drawing and began concentrating while chanting to herself incoherently. The chant wasn't enormously long, but she simply repeated it to herself many times over.

Lydia barely realized herself being levitated from her bed from her bed and flipped over onto her back when she suddenly blacked out and awoke standing in Naria's castle, in front of her cauldron. With her senses returning to her, she began realizing where she was and shrieked, backing herself up and away from the giant iron pot. Feeling something different from her usual shoes around her feet, Lydia looked down at herself. 'What am I doing wearing Naria's clothes?' She wondered when she realized what outfit she had on. She then noticed something different with her hands. Her skin looked the color of light stone and she had sharpened fingernails. Lydia located the closest mirror and gazed at the reflection in it. Rather than finding her own reflection, she found Naria's reflection. She gasped in fright and turned around to find the evil queen she assumed was standing behind her. When she found nothing, an idea popped into her head. She then looked into the mirror once again and began moving both arms. When the reflection mimicked her movements, Lydia's fear was realized, **she** was now in Naria's body. Upon the realization, she opened her mouth and screamed in Naria's voice.

With vision blurry, and sounds beginning to clear up, Naria slowly pushed herself to her knees in Lydia's bed. She allowed her vision to adjust to the light and then looked at her hand to see if the spell had worked properly. She smiled when she saw Lydia's hands, "Perfect. I have the spider silk and a guardian ghost's power to add to my own power." She extended her hand forward to cast one of her spells, however nothing happened no matter how much she concentrated. She tried over and over to cast spells with failure, time after time. Suddenly, she heard a screeching voice solemnly call out, "Lydia? Are you awake? I want to talk to you about your friend." 'Oh, good mother of darkness. Is that her mother?' Naria thought to herself. She then quickly decided to fake sleeping and plopped her head on the pillow and relaxed her body to simulate deep sleep. Delia slowly turned the door knob and inched the door open until she could poke her head inside. She looked on at her sleeping daughter and decided to wait until she was awake from her nap to talk to her, so Delia slid her head back out of the door and closed it gently. All the while, memories of Queen Myra ran through Naria's head.

A tear rolled down her cheek as she flashed back to the day before the coup. She was just like this, bawling her eyes out from a deep emotional wound in her soul. Her current lover had admitted that there was no love between them and broke off the relationship, she was deemed as a mere sand worm keeper rather than heir to the throne like she dreamed about for so long, and now her brother scolded her for bad mouthing the queen earlier. Her life she thought couldn't get too much worse, she thought. Just then a little imp had fluttered down into her room and began speaking to her. "Good evening, your highness." He said to her. She continued sobbing and swatted her right arm at the creature, "Go away and stop making fun..." She couldn't finish for as she swung her arm, the little creature bit into her arm hard, drawing blood and causing her to scream out in pain. "Why'd you do that?" Naria asked in frustration, holding onto her injured arm. "Killer instinct." The little imp simply stated to her. "Killer... instinct?" Naria repeated in question. The imp smiled at her and answered, "Yes, my dear. The instinct to crush opposition when it arises is essential to those who are destined for great power." "Great... power?" She continued to question. "Of course. You have the ability to communicate with the wild and greatly feared sand worms, right?" The imp asked mischievously. "How did..." She began to ask when the imp interrupted her. "Where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself." He then bowed to her in royal respect, "My name is Demattix, and I've been watching you for some time." Naria didn't know whether to be flattered or scared. "You have? Why?" She asked wrapping her bleeding arm in one of her blouses. "Deep down, you know that you are destined for the crown. I'm here simply to teach you the killer instinct you need to rule for ever and be the legend you were meant to be." Still skeptical, Naria stayed silent and allowed Demattix to continue to speak. "Compassion is your weakness. You're hurt here now because you cared for others instead of taking what you want for yourself. The truth is, 'if you want anything you must rip it from the hands of those who keep it from you'." He said with an evil and sinister grin painted on his face.

The imp continued returning to Naria time after time, teaching her more on the 'killer instinct' she needed to rule. He would always hide when someone would enter her room and return some minutes later to continue his lessons, and the girl listened intently. As Naria took in the information Demattix gave her, she began to grow more and more resentful toward those she believed wronged her, especially her ex-lover and Queen Myra. At four o'clock in the afternoon, Naria wandered around the market until she heard a crackling voice call to her. "You there, you look like you're interested in magic." The ancient old hag said to her. Slightly interested, Naria moved over toward the lady and said, "Maybe. Depends on whether or not you can impress me." The lady merchant then proceeded to display all of her wares and bolstering their value with lies that Naria could fully see through. "Look, lady. I don't have time to waist on obvious overblown product. I want something with..." Something caught her eye before she could finish her sentence. It was a giant black iron pot that seemed very heavy. She had no idea why something like that caught her attention but she needed to know. "Is **that** a magical artifact?" She asked, pointing to the large pot. "**That**, my dear, is called a cauldron. This one is known as the 'black cauldron'. I relieved it from a witches house after the witch herself had been devoured by a sand worm." The old merchant informed her. "Interesting. How does it work?" Naria asked, "And I would appreciate the truth." The merchant lady nervously gulped once before explaining what she knew about the cauldron. "Legend has it that the cauldron's source of power lies in the essence of souls. I have a book that I relieved from the same witches house, describing how it works." "I'll buy them both." Naria blurted out and brought out from her money purse a handful of blood rubies. The merchant lady gazed at the gems in pure wonder and greed before taking them up in her own hand and pocketing them. "Yes, yes. These ought to do. Thank you very much. Nice doing business with you." She said. Just then, Naria had a devious idea. "You know I am the official sand worm keeper?" The merchant lady looked at Naria quizzically. "Would you like to pet one?" Naria then offered seeming so innocent. "It's not going to devour me is it?" The merchant lady asked slightly nervous but still intrigued. 'A sand worm petting zoo may bring in the big gems' she thought to herself. "Oh no. Not unless I tell it to." Naria grinned evilly while the merchant lady was thinking to herself.

The memory then began fading and Naria found herself still in Lydia's body and without her magic abilities. "I must find a way to get back to my own body. This plan is worthless if my magic doesn't transfer with me." Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice she really didn't want to hear at this moment. "Hey Lyds. Check this out. I can throw my voice." His voice seemingly came out of nowhere and he even wasn't around to even talk. "Beetlejuice? Where are you?" Naria asked trying to act like how she thought Lydia would. She looked around for the ghostly man when his face appeared on her pillow. "Is your mom still mad at me?" With no memories to back up the situation, Naria answered like she thought that it was no big deal, "Hard to say for sure. Let's just take it as it comes." Suddenly Naria felt her shoulders twinge with pain. "Ow, what in the..." She asked slightly confused. As she brought her hand up to feel for any wounds, she ran her fingers over a bumped line across the skin. She then pulled on the collar of the shirt in get a look at what she felt. What she saw was a line of stitches closing up a once open wound where the doctors cut into Lydia to carefully reconnect the bone into the socket. She then repeated the process to look at the other shoulder. Same thing. 'What in the world happened to this girl?' She thought to herself.

In the castle, Lydia had finally stopped panicking about being in her enemy's body. Three sand soldiers and Demattix came to aid their queen as she did so. "What is it your highness? What happened?" As she calmed down she made a conscious effort to play as Naria to keep herself from being captured by them. "Nothing, you fool. A spell I tried to cast backfired is all. It made me mad with confusion for a time." "Your spells don't backfire too often. What happened?" Demattix asked. "Wouldn't I tell you if I knew?" Lydia responded sarcastically, out of instinct. At that point Demattix looked at her strangely as if sarcasm was a new thing to Naria. "I think you need to stop chasing the girl for a while. You're beginning to sound like her a little, my queen." He responded to her. Lydia gulped slightly and quickly thought of how to salvage the situation. She really didn't know much about how Naria treated her subjects, so she simply took a guess. "Listen you little flying sack of flesh, don't you dare tell me what to do. I'll stop chasing her once I have the spider silk. Now leave my sight before I barbeque you." After Lydia was done threatening Demattix, she realized that she'd be lucky if Naria actually knew what a barbeque really was in the first place. Slightly nervous, she held her ground and awaited Demattix;s response. "Yes your majesty." He responded and fluttered away with the soldiers in tow. 'Whew.' Lydia thought to herself after the troops and imp exited the room. She then began looking around the room to find even a hint as to what she could do to return to her own body.

"So, I guess I'll see you in school?" Beetlejuice said to her. "School?" Naria asked slightly confused. "Yah, you know. Books, teachers, friends, bullies... school." Hesitating slightly, Naria stated nervously, guessing that the marks on her shoulders indicated her most recent of injuries, "I don't know, Beetlejuice. My shoulders are still kinda acting up." "Oh, I guess I'll just get your homework then." Beetlejuice solemnly said and then asked with a slight smirk, "How did it happen again?" Naria then gulped as she thought about the story behind the injuries. The marks looked like cut wounds but they were in odd places to have been done in battle. She was stunned as she began tripping over her words. "Uh, well I, um, uh, it was..." "You're not Lydia, are you?" Beetlejuice surmised. Feeling trapped and exposed, Naria then hissed at the guardian ghost and lunged to punch him in the stomach. Beetlejuice caught Naria by the shoulders as she flew in his direction, throwing him onto his back. Suddenly Naria remembered how Lydia traversed back and forth between the two worlds, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" she quickly spouted and they found themselves at the front door of the castle, struggling for dominance.

Frantically looking over the many spells in the stone room of the cauldron, Lydia soon found herself amazed that she could even read the foreign languages in the books and scrolls. "It must be because Naria was able to read them." She guessed. Suddenly she heard the flapping of Demattix's wings coming back toward her and she began to panic in looking for the spell that reverses her current predicament. She then noticed a rolled up scroll on a table near the cauldron. She quickly made her way over to it and unrolled it to view its contents. The language was foreign but it soon became as plain English to her, "The Soul Switching Spell" She read out loud. "My queen!" Demattix called out to her. Reacting the way she thought Naria would Lydia angrily said to him, "I thought I told you to leave me alone." "But it's important. The girl has been seen at the front of the castle gates, and she seems to be fighting against her guardian ghost." 'The "girl" must mean Naria in **my **body.' She thought to herself then ordered the imp, "Leave them alone for now. See what unfolds and report back to me when I join you in an hour." Confused, the little imp asked, "My queen?" "Just do it!" Lydia screamed at him. Through sheer fear, the small creature shuttered and turned around to fulfill his orders. 'Now to find out how to reverse this.' She then thought to herself. She quickly scanned over the writings of the scroll until she found mention of the reversal technique. The method came of quite a shock to her. "I just have to touch her?" She thought out loud. 'But, the spider silk will simply repel me. I hope I don't have to breathe in that horrible air again.' Were the words that ran through her mind silently.

Suddenly a brilliant thought came through her mind. She set the scroll down onto the table and grabbed the rim of the cauldron with both hands. The contents of the cauldron made it extremely difficult to tip over, but eventually the cauldron fell on its side and doused the fire in the pit. Hissing noises came from the coals as well as steam rose into the air. A particular object near the bottom shelf of a nearby book case caught Lydia's eye and she turned to look at it. The object was the same flower that cured her poisoning from before. 'This might come in handy.' Lydia thought as she reached for it only to accidently drop the object into the pool of liquid that had been spilled out of the cauldron. Upon the moonwisp coming in contact with the liquid, it began dissolving into it, causing the liquid to transform into pure, clear water. Even the air in the immediate vicinity, cleared up and was purified. Lydia was perplexed as to what exactly happened. The air she was now breathing smelled so clean and pure, it was a huge relief to breathe it in. Suddenly, the remainder of the air within the castle began clearing up at a rapid pace. She then quickly tore up the scroll of the switching spell and ran to accomplish her new objective, touch her original body and switch back.

Outside of the castle, Naria and Beetlejuice were locked in battle, the spider silk repelling off Beetlejuices attacks and Naria finding out the 'hard way' that she feels all of the pain she delivers onto the guardian ghost. Lydia was running down the halls as quick as she could. 'If she overdoes it, she'll tear open the surgical cuts and I'll have to start over with the recuperating process.' Ran rampantly through her head. 'I just hope the spider silk can protect my body from self injury.' Just ahead of her, the air continued clearing at an even more rapid rate, almost as if the contents of the cauldron were the only thing keeping the air so toxic. 'Faster. I gotta get there faster!' Lydia thought in a mild panic. Suddenly, she felt her feet lifting off of the ground and she noticed that she was speeding up. She looked behind her to see what happened when she saw the black mist wings that Naria used before. 'Great. Now I just need...' She thought until she found exactly what she was looking for in front of her, and closing in fast. "A window!" she shouted in excitement and made a hard right turn to try to make it through the window. She failed, however. She made it out of the window, but she slammed her side into the support that separated the first window from the next as there are normally windows arranged in groups of two strewn throughout the castle.

Lydia continued toward the brawl between her body and Beetlejuice to stop herself from over exerting her shoulders and tearing open the stitches. Naria, on the other hand, was completely exhausted. With both shoulder burning so much they felt like they would simply fall off and catch fire, she hardly noticed the air around them clear away just as Beetlejuice struck the barrier one last time. The shield cracked and shattered upon the impact and Naria fell to the ground. Lydia landed with a crash and made an effort to crawl toward her body. "Beetlejuice. Don't hurt her." She said in Naria's voice. "What the... what's going on?" Beetlejuice asked extremely confused. "I thought you had a handle on those wings. You flew like an amateur." He then added. Panting and injured from both crashes, she simply answered, "Long story. Naria used a switch spell that put her into my body and me into her body." She then crawled up to her body and reached out to touch its face. The contact caused a small spark of light to appear as Lydia fainted. She awoke later inside the Road House and in her original body, the air of the Neitherworld still clean. Beetlejuice was looking after her to until she awoke. When she tried moving her arms, they burned with intensity and Lydia cringed from the pain. "Welcome back." He said to her the moment Lydia opened her eyes. She breathed in the air of the Nietherworld and found it similar to the fresh mountain air of Oregon. "I think you need to go home and recover." Beetlejuice said with a great deal of concern for her. All she could do was nod and groggily said, "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice." The two vanished from the others' sight the moment the final syllable escaped from Lydia's lips.

In the castle, Naria found herself in her own bed when she smelled something different. "Demattix?" She called in slight pain from her many bruises. The imp fluttered in concerned for his queen's health and safety. "You called, my queen?" He asked. "Check on the cauldron." She ordered. "I already have your eminence." Was his nervous answer. "And?" She urged him to continue his report. "It has been turned over, and its contents... neutralized." "No! No! **No!**" She screamed.

Back at Lydia's room, Beetlejuice tucked her back into bed when he heard the door knob turn and the door slowly creak open. He quickly morphed into the hideous doll and placed himself at the head of Lydia's bed just to the right of her pillow. "Lydia?" Delia asked when she poked her head into the room. "Are you awake now?" Lydia decided to answer her and said, "Yes I am. Come in." With the invitation out, Delia entered the room and made her way to sit on the edge of Lydia's bed. "I wanted to talk to you about Ben." She solemnly said to Lydia. Lydia allowed the back of her head to flop back onto the pillow with slight frustration as she didn't need another argument right now. "I spoke to your father and he told me that I'm being too harsh on the boy. I gave it all some thought and I realized that I most likely was." Delia admitted in slight shame. "I suppose that I can't always take my frustrations and insecurities out on the closest thing you have to a future. Ben is allowed to visit you provided that one of your other friends accompanies him and I get a chance to meet his grandfather." Both, Lydia **and** Beetlejuice gulped at the new sentiment. This new development greatly limits their trips to the Nietherworld **and** now Beetlejuice must provide a clone of himself to present as his grandfather without making it obvious that it's a fake. "Does that sound fair?" Delia asked Lydia, breaking her deep thought. "Y, yes mam." Lydia agreed. "Lydia, you know you can call me 'mom' or 'mother' now right?" Delia asked trying not to sound rude. Lydia simply looked at her with sadness in her eyes and said, "No offence. But no, I can't."

End of Episode 12


	13. Episode 13 Through the Forest

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 13: Over the Hill and Through the Forest**

It had been three days since Naria's last attempt against Lydia and the gang. Sierra was wandering around in the new cabin, cleaning things up and arranging the rustic, hand carved furniture around to have each room look its best. Beetlejuice had brought the news of Lydia's mother asking Lydia to arrange dinner at the cabin with Ben and his grandfather, and she flipped out saying something about the cabin being drastically out of style. The Seer had vanished the moment everyone had looked away from him and wasn't seen since.

Beetlejuice had begun panicking slightly, thinking about ways to create a convincing old man while maintaining himself. "How the heck am I gonna pull this off?" "Calm down, for starters." Sierra huffed at him. "Perhaps Lydia learned something in Naria's castle when she switched places with her." Beetlejuice thought about that notion for a second and then decided that it couldn't hurt to ask. Suddenly, from behind him and in a smaller voice than usual, Aldar asked, "Could you turn into Ben for me for a little bit?" Both Sierra and Beetlejuice slightly confused, Beetlejuice shifted into Ben only to have his hair swiftly cut by the soul eater's blade. Startled out of his wits, Ben shot backward, nearly into Sierra's arms and shouted at the gray skinned man, "Are you crazy? You could have devoured my soul!" "Not, really." Aldar admitted, "It needs to be a fatal wound for it to collect and devour souls. Other than that, it's just a normal sword blade." Still not amused, Ben scoffed at him, "Still, keep that evil thing away from me." Aldar simply collected up the hair that he had cut and moved himself into the next room. "That was slightly creepy?" Sierra said in mild shock. "I never took him as **that **type of man." Ben sarcastically retorted. Sierra, knowing Aldar better than that, shot the Australian boy a frightening glare and walked in the direction of Aldar. "He's not like that. He probably has a good reason for giving you a haircut." She said in a mild huff.

Ben then reverted back to Beetlejuice and darted quickly toward where he last saw Lydia... in her room... finishing up her homework from her absent school days. "Man, these teachers are brutal to absent students." She muttered to herself indicating the stack of papers next to her right side. "That's pretty much the same homework I got **in **class as well, so don't complain." Beetlejuice admitted to her in a soft tone so as to not attract her parents. Still, she wasn't expecting him so she nearly jumped out of her shoes. "Beetlejuice, don't scare me like that." Sorry" he apologized bashfully, "I was just wondering if you learned anything interesting while in Naria's body." Lydia shuddered at the mere mention of that incident. "No, not exactly." She answered. Beetlejuice raised his right eyebrow upward in a slightly confused and intrigued kind of curiosity. "What do you mean, 'not exactly'?" He asked. "Well, did you notice that the air of the Nietherworld cleared up quickly just before we switched back?" She inquired? "Yah..." Beetlejuice answered still confused as to what she was trying to imply. "Well, while in Naria's body, I dumped the contents of her cauldron on her floor and accidently dropped a Moonwisp flower in them. The Moonwisp's pollen turned it into clear water and that in turn cleared up the air." She said then thought about it. "To be honest, I was surprised that the air cleared up so quickly. Even without the toxic contents of the cauldron, I figured that the air still would have taken at least an entire year to clear up like that." Beetlejuice stood there near the window, staring at the sixteen year old girl with his jaw hanging around three inches farther than his lower jaw normally would hang. His eyes held a baffled and bewildered look on them and he was hunched forward in his dumbfounded state, allowing his arms to hang there like wooden boards on a single nail. Finally he spoke, "You neutralized the entire cauldron with just a **Moonwisp**?" "Why?" Lydia asked innocently. "I gotta tell this to Aldar and the others." Beetlejuice said mostly to himself and then vanished out of the window just before Delia opened up Lydia's door and poked her head in asking, "Who are you talking to?" Thinking quickly Lydia said, "No one mam, you probably heard my radio. I was listening to local talk." Buying the excuse, hook-line-and-sinker, Delia said, "Oh. Just be sure to finish your homework before dinner at the Juice's house." "Yes mam." Lydia said to her and continued on her latest assignment. She didn't want to admit it, but her shoulders still burned from overuse by Naria's panicking while in her body. 'I'm lucky that the stitches didn't pop open. Or both my parents might have been super suspicious.' She thought to herself before continuing with her homework.

Beetlejuice moved quickly to get the information back to Aldar and Sierra. He moved through the forest silently as if his feet landed on air rather than on ground. He weaved around trees and through brush until he saw the cabin created by The Seer just ahead. He reached the front door within minutes and burst in with the news of Lydia's discovery. "Hey guys, guess what Lydia discovered while in..." He was cut off by the sight he saw inside the cabin. A much older version of Ben was sitting in a rocking chair rocking back and forth while resting his tired, old eyes. The man looked to be around eighty years old and fit as a bear cub. Beetlejuice simply stood at the door, confused. "What in the?" He asked out loud. Aldar, who was sitting at the hand carved round dinner table in the far corner near the kitchen, turned his head toward Beetlejuice and answered, "Just a few things The Seer taught me during the first rebellion against my sister. A golem clone spell and an age shift spell. I never found a use for them until now." He scratched his right cheek with the first finger of his right hand while he thought whether or not The Seer had planned it to be that way.

"Golem clone?" Beetlejuice questioned while lifting his right eyebrow at the gray skinned man. "It's not exactly a clone because it's not alive truly. It's simply a husk that has a programmed personality. It seems real, but it's not and cannot truly think for itself." Aldar answered. "Now, you were saying something about Lydia?" Suddenly, Beetlejuice realized that he had completely forgotten what Lydia had told him about the contents of the cauldron. He thought about it and thought about it and finally mentally kicked himself, "Shoot. I forgot. Well I'll just ask Lydia later." "It couldn't have been important then." A familiar yet aged voice said coming from the golem clone in the chair. Beetlejuice turned to see the golem clone actually standing on its own and moving as if it actually had a soul. "Sweet." Beetlejuice gasped. Suddenly, a sweet flavor tantalized the tongues of all who were close. "I taste strawberries." Ginger exclaimed. "I taste the sweet flavor of Nietherworldian sunberries." Aldar said after smacking his lips. "Atlantian whiteberries for me." Sierra smiled at the fond memories. Jacques sat there and sulked at the rest of them after saying, "Yaur all lucky ye still have teste buds."

There was an awkward silence as everyone took the time to stare at the saddened Jacques. "Anyway, y'all should turn back into Ben. I'll get the meal prepared." Sierra said, breaking the silence. Before Beetlejuice could make a snide remark about an abundance of seaweed in the dish, Aldar interrupted. "And despite any stereotypical jokes and accusations, Atlantian cooking seems to be frighteningly close to Chinese cooking in this world. "Chinese..." Beetlejuice questioned. "Yes, Chinese." Aldar trailed off, thinking about the difference in tastes. "Maybe, I'll just throw something on the barbeque." Beetlejuice until Aldar corrected him, "We don't have a barbeque." Beetlejuice hung his head and gave in, "Chinese then." With realization, Sierra inhaled and then stated, "We don't have any ingredients!" Beetlejuice then slapped his forehead and grunted.

By the time school ended for them, it had been too long a day, for everyone and Lydia was dreading the things they decided to cook for dinner. She hardly even knew if Beetlejuice, Aldar, Sierra or if any of them could cook. With a sickening taste on her tongue and a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, Lydia began making the journey home with dread and worry.

Sierra suddenly had an idea come to her. "Since I technically am back from the dead, temporarily it would be a good opportunity to check on my home world of Atlantis." She said hinting at gathering some Atlantian ingredients. Intrigued by the idea, Aldar lifted his head from his deep thought and smiled, "How fast can you swim?" Sierra smiled coyly and said to him, "I'll be back in a half an hour or less." And with that, she ran out of the cabin, located a nearby stream and dove into the deepest part to follow the current to the ocean. She was gone in an instant, off to see what had happened to Atlantis.

During that time, Aldar made an effort to find places for the gang to hide, and came up with the conclusion that they all should simply retreat back to the Nietherworld once Sierra finished cooking the meal. "Jacques, Ginger." He called to them. The skeleton and the spider came in promptly as they had literally nothing else to accomplish. "One of you needs to get Lydia and get her to open the door that connects the two worlds. It's time we returned back to the Nietherworld." "I'll get her. I'm pretty good at stealth and reconnaissance." Ginger admitted. "Good, you'll get Lydia's attention after school, and convince her to open up the connection chamber." Aldar stated. "Iz zat, what ze stone room is called?" Jacques asked scratching his skull just under his hat. "That's just what I decided to call it. It was clever and straight forward. It's a chamber that connects the two worlds together." Aldar admitted slightly bashful.

It took ten minutes longer than estimated, but eventually Sierra returned from Atlantis with some brilliant news. "Guess what guys, the Atlantian government paid homage to the royal family and I was able to collect all of the ingredients for the meal simply everyone recognized the design on my forehead." She stated as she placed down four bags full of ingredients for Atlantian dishes. "Design?" Jacques asked and turned his gaze to Sierra's forehead. Sure enough, on her forehead was a pattern using dots a simple shade darker of color than her natural bright blue skin. The markings resembled the flow of water as they traveled from the center of her forehead outward just short of her temples. The bottom of the design was constructed of three circles that formed a downward pointing triangle. Connecting to the two outer circles, two lines wove their way around another circle. Another line following the underside of the line connecting to the three circles, wove around itself closer to the side of her head. Just above the triangle of circles, a diamond shape with a spade shape on top of that could be seen with more wirily lines branching from the side edges of the diamond. Reaching from the crown of her head all the way to the back, just before her tentacles started growing, more curvy lines made a shield shape with the point aiming down the back of her head. "Zut alores! Do all Atlanians have marks like zis?" Jacques asked in alarm. Sierra simply pointed at the dark blue diamond shape in the center of what was supposed to be her eyebrows and said, "Nah, just royalty. All Atlantians are born with just this. The marks are from a permanent dye tattooed on us at the age of two, when our fish skin is thick enough to resist the pain." If Jacques hade muscles to move in his face, you probably would have seen him mouth out a gesture of realization, but instead all anyone could see was just him silently moving his fleshless jaw open and then closed. After that he simply walked away with his newly acquired information. "Now, to get cooking." Sierra said to herself and hurried into the kitchen with all of her new items and groceries.

Meanwhile, Beetlejuice as Ben, walked around town with an idea in mind. "I wonder how much money I can get from these here rubies." Earlier, he had remembered some of the rubies in his pockets and pulled them out and began wondering that very question. He wondered around town and eventually ran into Claire, literally. The two were both in thought and had smashed into each other. Ben dropped the rubies in his hand and noticed the blond girl falling backward to the concrete behind her and instinctively snagged her arm to keep her from cracking her head on the sidewalk. "Are ya alright miss." He said before realizing who it was. "Claire?" She was about to let the person who knocked her down have a big piece of her mind until she heard that polite Australian accent ring in her ears. She jolted her head and me t eyes with his, "Ben? What are you doing here?" She asked with a shock. "I'm here..." He had to think of a quick story or risk exposing Lydia's true connection with Beetlejuice and effectively erase any sign of normality from both of their lives, "To have these gems appraised and collect some money for me gramps." He said after snagging his dropped rubies into his right hand and showing them to Claire. She looked at the gems quizzically and asked, "May I?" hinting at allowing her to inspect one of them. Realizing what she was asking, he figured that he had tons more and answered, "Oh sure" before placing a smaller ruby in the palm of her left hand. Claire gazed at the crystal in her hand for a time and admitted, "I'm impressed. This thing is a real ruby and it's even fairly decent. You probably might get at least five or six hundred dollars for each of them, give or take." Ben thrust both of his eyebrows upward as high as they could go in surprise. "How did ya know all that?" He asked her. She simply winked at him with her left eye and said, "Call it a hobby." She then grabbed his free hand and began walking, while dragging him behind. Slightly panicked, Ben followed and asked, "Uh, where are we going?" She just continued walking until they stopped at a small store front that said in bold, red letters, "Alfred's Appraisers, Jewels, Antiques, and more." "You said that you wanted to sell the rubies and get some money for them. This place is the only appraiser in town." Clair finally said and then dragged him inside. The silver bell dinged the moment the door's corner struck it, alerting the highly aged man behind the counter. "Oh, hi Claire. Back to look at more jewels huh?" He said in his tired voice. "No Mr. Hughes. I'm here with a seller. He has some impressive rubies for you to price and buy. They're even uncut." Claire answered the man. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "Did you already look at them?" She cheerfully answered, "Yes sir. They're fairly cloudy, but they look exotic and in really good shape for being uncut." Mr. Hughes simply hummed in delight and reached his hand out to accept the jewels.

Ben shyly handed the stones over to the man and he placed a spyglass over his eye to get a better look. Looking over the jewel for some time, he placed it down and extended his hand once again for another. He repeated the process and wound up placing them into three separate piles most of them going into the rightmost pile. "What does that mean?" Ben asked gesturing toward the piles. "Oh, he separates his appraisals according to their worth. The farther right they are, the more the object is worth. Judging by the placement, that pile might either be six and a half or seven." Claire answered him. "Six and a half or seven dollars?" Ben whispered slightly irate. "No six and a half or seven **hundred** dollars." Claire corrected him. "Oh." Ben silently exhaled and then asked, "How much can rubies get up to on worth?" Claire thought about it for a short time until Mr. Hughes answered for her, "Around fifteen thousand dollars for a perfect one." Ben simply shot his eyebrows up in alarm and awe. Then the old man finished placing the final gem in the center pile and stated, "Six thousand, six hundred and fifty dollars for the ten of them." Ben looked down at the piles of gems and indeed there were a total of ten of them, two in the leftmost pile, three in the center pile, and five in the rightmost pile. "Is that good?" Ben asked Claire in slight confusion. "It's pretty good." She responded. "Ok, I'd like ta sell these buggers."

It took a few seconds for Mr. Hughes to write a check, but it soon became apparent that Ben had a few problems. "How do I use this blooming thing?" He asked gazing at the piece of paper. Clare could only giggle at the irony of the situation. "Follow me." Was the only thing she could say. She then grabbed Ben's right arm once again as he stuffed the check into his pocket and she led him back toward the school. A few blocks before reaching the school, they reached a bank, where Claire led him in to cash the check. Once inside, she led him through a line of people toward a windowed counter where a lady that looked around her mid twenties stood behind typing on a computer. The window stood beside around six others just the same but with different people behind them. "Hi Ariel. We'd like to open an account." Claire said to the woman behind the glass. "Oh, hi Claire." The woman said, apparently Claire knew the woman behind the window by name and deliberately chose her window. Claire handled the rest of the process and set up a bank account for Ben to use. There was even a debit card that came with the new account. She divided the cash in half amongst the checking and the savings account and made sure that she never saw his choice for his PIN number.

As they exited the bank Ben decided to ask, "How come you're always so nice to me and ignore Lydia all of the time?" Claire was surprised at his basic question, no one ever questioned her actions before and the answer that she was trying to be the popular girl written about in magazines sounded like a dumb answer while in her head. "Jealousy, I guess. You spend so much time with her and I guess, that's what I want." She admitted. "Lydia's the first friend I made since moving here. Of course, I'm gonna hang out with her lots." Ben tried to clear things up for her. "But, what about a girlfriend?" Claire blurted out. Ben was shocked that she simply came out with that. He thought about it for a second and finally said to her, "I haven't thought about it much. I certainly haven't thought about Lydia like that." They reached the school gates and Clare seemed to have a sense of renewed hope somehow. "That's good to know. I gotta get back home. I'll see ya at the Spirit Week Dance on Friday?" She shyly said to him. "Ya'd better. I'm taking ya there, aren't I?" Ben sarcastically replied and began heading home. Claire stood by and watched as he walked away toward a sun setting behind the forest trees in the West. "Wow, kinda epic." She said to herself before turning around and heading home herself.

The moment Ben walked through the door of the cabin, the smell of Chinese fried rice and sub-gum permeated the air, and he inhaled deeply. He shifted back into Beetlejuice and made his way into the kitchen. Sierra was busy cutting up vegetables to complete the sub-gum and had her back turned away. Beetlejuice could hear her humming an old Atlantian song she kept in her head since her untimely demise and chopping away at celery. Beetlejuice sought this opportunity to taste some of her cooking and tantalize his taste buds as well as the smell tantalized his nose. He quietly tiptoed toward her and attempted to reach around with his left hand to steal a taste. He didn't get very far when Sierra's right hand cracked him over the back of his hand. He knew Lydia most likely felt the same impact on her hand as well. He rubbed his hand to try and rub out the stinging sensation in it when Sierra said, "Not yet. You'll spoil your appetite." Beetlejuice simply gave her a defeated look and tiptoed in reverse out of the kitchen.

Within the hour, the dinner was completed and the Deetz's arrived at the cottage. Delia decided to be the one to knock on the door, and she lifted her right hand to her eye level and knocked three times in a half note rhythm using the outer knuckles of her lightly clenched fist. Aldar led the others out of the back door and into the forest where they were least likely to be seen, while Beetlejuice shifted back into Ben and opened the door to greet Lydia and her family, his "grandpa" completed and ready for presentation. "G'day Mrs. Deetz, Mr. Deetz, Lydia." Ben stated trying to be his kindest. "You came just in time. Please, come in and sit down." 'He's quite charming, in his own way.' Delia thought to herself before entering in to the cabin. "Oy. Are these the Deetz, ya keep yammerin about?" The golem clone said, walking into the room from around a corner leading to the rest of the house, in a mild calm voice. He was perfectly fit and healthy for an eighty year old man. He walked up to the family as they all entered in through the door and shook their hands in turn. "G'day. I'm Laurence Juice, Ben's granddaddy." "Grandpa, ya said ya'd be on yer best behavior." Ben nudged to him. "I am on me best behavior." The golem clone informed him. 'This is going to be embarrassing, I just know it.' He thought to himself. Lydia lagged behind impressed with the realism of the double. "How did you do all of this?" She whispered to him. "The cabin came from The Seer and Aldar created a golem clone out of me hair and aged it using an aging spell." Ben whispered back. "Aldar knows magic?" Lydia whispered back in surprise. "Those are the only two spells he seems to know." Ben stated.

They reached the table in the dining room, to the right of the kitchen and still accessible from the main entry, and Ben pulled the chair for Lydia while Charles pulled the chair for Delia. The table was an oval shape and even tone in color, clearly made out of wood. It was glazed over with a lovely clear finish making the wood shine like a piece of glass and was accompanied by six elegant chairs arrange in an elongated hexagon pattern with the tips being at the narrow ends of the table. The two girls sat down and then the boys, Laurence at the head of the table, Delia to his left and Charles to hers. Ben sat to Laurence's right and Lydia sat to his right, across from her father. The sixth chair across from Laurence remained empty. "So, where is Ben's father?" Delia asked, looking at the empty chair. "Ben's dad died in Australia. It was a croc that got 'im." Laurence answered dismally. Delia placed her hand over her mouth in shock. "His mum soon fell to a deadly sickness. That why I brought 'im here. It's not so dangerous here. Plus, it takes 'im from the bad memories." He added. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry." Delia gasped after hearing the story. Charles placed his right hand on his wife's left shoulder to comfort her in her accident of making the dinner dreary right at the beginning. "It's ok. Benjamin doesn't talk much of his folks anyway. Speaking of which, why don't ya fetch the grub, Ben?" Laurence stated and turned to the young boy. Ben jumped off of his chair and answered calmly, "Sure thing, gramps", and then made his way to the kitchen where he brought out the fried rice and other things. There were plates in his hands with heaps of fried rice, sub-gum, orange chicken and other recipes of authentic-ish Chinese food. Ben gracefully placed the dishes in the center of the table where all could reach them and finally sat down in his seat in between Laurence and Lydia. "Well everyone, dig in." Laurence announced. Most of them had almost forgotten that he was his grandfather, he acted so chipper that he seemed around forty or more years younger than he was.

They chatted with each other and passed around the food whose flavor was mouthwateringly delicious and Laurence made up stories of Ben's past that were so realistically embarrassing, even Lydia almost bought them. By the time the dinner was through, it was twilight out. Along the way home, Delia said to Lydia, "Your friend seems nice enough. I guess you can bring him over to study as long as we know he's over. I don't want any surprise visits from him, alright?" "Yes mam." Lydia responded with a smile on her face. "We have every class together, so he might be coming over a lot. I hope that's ok." "Well that's rather convenient. At least you have a full time study partner." Charles said in attempt to keep Delia from thinking that Ben was stalking Lydia.

End of Episode 13


	14. Episode 14 Parent Trouble

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 14: Parent Trouble**

With a successful dinner at his house, Ben then needed to focus on the Spirit Week dance the next day. With his new cash, he decided to go shopping and find out some of the newest styles and trends of the Outerworld. In normal attire, Ben noticed that most of the kids his age wear shirts that look like they had black or bright paint splattered all over them and some hidden images as well. Denim jeans were the usual fashion around town and some even wore various kinds of shorts. 'I know that I could simply change into whatever I want to wear by simply shifting onto the form. But, there seems to be something about the clothes of the Outerworld that intrigues me. What does this stuff actually feel like? So far all I've got is my striped suit.' Ben thought to himself as he strolled through the streets of town, closer and closer to the shopping center. Along the way, he thought he noticed Lydia heading the same direction and it was confirmed when he saw both Delia and Charles tailing after her at an even pace. "Lydia!" Ben called out to his friend. The girl turned her head to see who had called for her and noticed the Australian boy briskly walking up to meet her. "G-day!" He greeted her when he had gotten close enough to shake her hand. "Ben, what are you doing here?" Lydia asked in slight shock. "Me?" He answered in slight embarrassment, "I'm just out clothes shopping. I wanna look me best for the dance t'night. Perhaps ya kin help me with a few fashion tips?" Lydia was taken aback a little by his sudden question and hesitated for her answer, "Sorry, Ben. But, I'm not that much into modern fashion. It's a semi-formal dance anyway. Button up shirts and slacks, or even suits if you wish." Ben looked at the girl slightly confused, pretending to not know what a suit even was. Lydia groaned in defeat and said, "Fine. But you're buying your own things." "No problem there." Ben retorted with a confident smile.

The time spent shopping highly intrigued Ben. While he tried on a few things for his everyday life, he ended up purchasing ten shirts and ten pairs of denim jeans. He then also bought a bunch more clothes for himself to use later and even purchased a couple of luggage bags with wheels. "I can see why you would need those right now." I smirked at him.

Lydia got Ben fitted with a white button up shirt, navy blue Slates and a pair of black Dockers for the dance. "Why do you need to go clothes shopping anyway? You can morph into any outfit you want." Lydia whispered to Ben while they were looking at some more things on the shelves. "Yah, but it still feels like the suit. And, though it is my favorite suit, it did feel nice to put on something made from cotton." He answered. "Plus, it makes the living quarters seem more plausible with the chest of drawers actually having sets of clothes in them, and having things decorating my room." Lydia thought about his reasoning for a few seconds and found herself unable to argue with the sense of logic. "You're getting into this aren't you?" She finally smirked at him. Ben simply grinned at her and said in his Australian voice, "You bet'cha!"

They all exited the store and Ben had himself an entire luggage bag full of new clothes. He was about to drag the suitcase home from the mall until Delia asked him, "You're not going to **walk** that entire thing home are you?" She sounded slightly concerned for him and looked upon the boy with mild worry. He looked back at Delia with confusion and answered, "That's kind of the idea mam." "There'll be none of that. Follow us and we'll give you a ride home." Delia offered. Hesitantly, Ben followed behind and accepted the ride home from the Deetz family. The ride in the old Ford wagon was slightly bumpy but overall, pleasant. To maintain their cover, Lydia and Ben both discussed their homework given to them by their teachers. "I just don't understand how they could call it 'school pride' when the teachers give us enormous assignments due the day after a school break. They realize that the last thing on our minds is the assignment, right?" Lydia said in a slight, complaining tone. "And the teachers all say the same thing, 'Gotta keep those young malleable minds sharp'. Kinda cruel if ya ask me." Ben responded in a flustered voice. Delia and Charles simply giggled at the notion and nostalgia of the conversation.

Delia dropped Ben off at the road nearest to the forest to help minimize his walking distance as much as possible. He walked around to the back of the Ford wagon and brought his luggage out of its rear door. The two kids waved at each other as the car pulled away and Ben finally began making his way into the forest to reach his home on the Outerworld. Along the way there, he noticed a small flash of blonde gold to his right. Turning to see what it was, he noticed a female figure wandering around in the near dark of the decently thick forest, even if it was thinning from the time of year being close to fall. "Who's there?" He called out to her. The figure sharply turned to the sound of his voice as if startled by it and suddenly relaxed almost like the person knew who he was. Ben squinted at the person to see if he could get a better look until he noticed one defining feature... golden hair. "Claire?" He gasped. She walked toward him and emerged into the light to reveal herself to him. Indeed it was Claire Brewster, and she looked slightly sad as she gazed back at him. Noticing her saddened expression, Ben tried to cheer her up. "Come on Claire. Getting lost on a walkabout isn't anything to get yeself down about. It happens all of the time." He said jokingly to try and get her to smile. Instead, she simply looked toward the ground and quietly said, "Sorry." Shocked a little and confused he still knew that something was up, and it could be serious. "What's eating ya?" He asked in a serious and endearing tone. She then suddenly lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his waist and simply began crying on his chest.

Back at Lydia's house, Lydia was startled when she found Aldar, Sierra, Jacques and Ginger trying everything they could to hide in her room until she walked through the door. Lydia was able to cup her hands around d her mouth before she let off a frightened scream the moment she noticed Aldar sitting on her bed not caring whether her folks saw him or not. "Aldar, you scared me half to death." She said trying to catch her breath and slow down her heart rate. "We have a problem, Lydia." He announced in his quiet serious tone that would have driven any fan-girl wild. "We need to get back to the Neitherworld and get back in the fight against my sister. She won't stop destroying innocent souls until she opens the Spirit Gates, and I'm not about to allow her to find the Angelic Journals without a fight." "I thought you were the one who **hid** the Angelic Journals." Lydia stated, slightly confused. He looked at Lydia with seriousness in his eyes and determination written behind them. "I hid **one** Angelic Journal. There were literally over a hundred volumes written over time and the servants all received four at the very least when they all scattered to hide them. I plan on finding the volume that describes the method of unlocking the Spirit Gates before she does." Finally understanding his point, Lydia walked up to the center of her room and chanted, "Although I know I should be weary, still I venture someplace scary. Ghostly haunting. I turn loose, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" Piece by piece, her room began turning into the stone room of her closet and the Spider Silk once again wrapped itself around her and they soon found themselves preparing to fight their way to safety the moment they exit the door.

Claire had at last calmed down from her little crying session against Ben and he decided to let her warm herself in front of his fireplace. He removed his coat and placed it over her shoulders before leading her back to the cabin. In his mind the continuously said to himself, 'I hope the others aren't around. I'd hate to have to explain this to her now.' His anxiety rose steadily the closer he came to the front door of the cabin. If he had a living heart, it would be racing about now. But he was able to maintain composure and figure out a way to warn everybody before they got to the house. With just a few feet to spare, He called out, "Grandpa put the kettle on. I have a guest with me." He was sure that gave everyone a clue to scramble to a decent hiding place for now. It wasn't long when the older version of Ben answered the door as Grandpa Laurence Juice. "If you keep bringing people over, I might begin thinking that ya like it here." He blurted out and then noticed Claire's saddened expression. "Something happen ta the little Miss?" He then asked in a serious expression. "I think she just came here for comfort gramps. Be on ya best behavior." Ben said to Laurence. He simply smirked back to him, "I always am. Come on in. It feels like it could rain." And sure enough, the moment Laurence closed the door behind them, the sound of heavy rain began beating down on the cabin's roof.

After a few minutes of silence from Claire, Laurence came back with a couple of hot cups of jasmine tea for the two of them. "Here, ta help calm the nerves. Be careful though 'tis pretty hot." He said as he handed Claire her cup. Her hands instantly warmed up by simply holding onto the porcelain cup with the handle wrapped around the middle and ring finger of her right hand. She gently blew off the steam to help the cooling process as much as she could and then gently took a sip of the clear light brown liquid. It ran down her the inside of her body, warming her up in an instant and even briefly calming her nerves and stress. It tasted slightly exotic and even a little bitter at first. But it was still true to its name and smelled like the tiny jasmine flowers. She took in a deep breath through her nose to savor the aroma of the tea and thanked Mr. Juice. "Thank you, Mr. Juice. This is very kind of you." She then looked around the small house and noticed that it was nothing like the glamorous home that she was used to but still had its own sense of spiritual and natural beauty to it. "You sure have a nice house. I never even knew this was even here." Laurence joined her in looking around the house as he answered, "T'was all hard work, little miss. Nothing gets done till you get up and do it." Ben, still worried about his friend, decided to get to the point. "What about you Claire? It's pretty obvious that you weren't wandering in the forest simply for a nightly stroll." Claire placed the cup of tea in her lap and continued holding onto the cup to keep it from tipping and spilling all over her. She gazed into the soft brown liquid hoping to avoid having to tell her little story to them. "It's just my parents. Don't worry about it. I'm used to their disappointments by now." She responded. "No one should be use to being disappointed, little one. Tell us what's going on. You never know, we might be able ta help you out." Laurence answered her.

The girl shot a confused and startled look to the old man. She didn't think someone like him would be willing to offer his assistance to a person he barely knew. "Why would you want to help me?" She asked. "Yer Ben's friend, right?" Laurence asked back in response. His face hardly changed between words, he maintained his kind and caring expression as he looked directly at her. It was a kindness that she felt she was able to trust and count on for anything, something that she was clearly not used to. "Y, yes. I think I am." She said turning her gaze to the boy sitting next to her. Ben finished off another drink of his tea before smiling at her in confirmation. "Then that's good enough for me." Laurence stated. Claire lowered her gaze back to her tea and took another sip before collecting the courage to tell both of them. "They do this all of the time. They promise to spend time with me and suddenly their careers get in the way and they immediately break that promise. They think that just because they give me large expensive gifts that I immediately for give them too, but I've been bottling up my frustrations inside." Her tone of voice began to show that frustration the more she spoke about it and began to tighten her grip on the tea cup in her hands. "So what did they do ta make ya leave home and come here?" Laurence asked. She simply sat silent for a few seconds and finally said, "They promised that they would chaperone and usher for the Spirit Week dance tomorrow, but they both got work that day. My mom is a part time actress and she received a background roll that they could have had anyone else fill and dad just set up his own board meeting." She explained. "And yer family has plenty of money to pass around." Ben blurted out. Claire simply looked at him as if she thought that he was asking for a hand-out. "Boy, remind me ta smack ya in the back of the head later." Laurence said while cradling his forehead in the palm of his left hand. "Although, that is a legit question. Why would yer parents do that to ya unless yer low on cash and fallin on hard times?" Claire looked back at Laurence and snapped at him, "No we're not poor or 'falling on hard times'." Then she calmed down and thought about it, "Actually we've got plenty of money to pay for twenty years of my college and afford to eat at five-star restaurants every day during that time." "So ya think that yer parents are avoiding ya and all you want is ta be a regular family again." Laurence responded. Claire looked at the old man as if he had just read her mind and softly answered in her surprise, "Yah. That's it, I think." "Tragic. I wonder if there is time ta talk ta your folks about the importance of **family** and make them realize how much they are actually hurting ya?" At that point, Claire almost began to panic. "Are you nuts? They get so busy they hardly listen to **me**. What do you think they're going to do about someone they don't even know?" "Yer right about that, miss. That's why **you're** gonna be the one to tell them." Claire stopped in her tracks and nearly dropped her cup of tea on her lap. "What?" she gasped. "What can **I** possibly say?" She questioned. With confidence, Laurence leaned in toward her as much as he could from his seat that was most likely six feet away from her and simply said to her, "If you calmly explain to them everything you told us, I guarantee you it'll go smoothly. Just don't be mean about it and tell them how you feel. It's a parent's job to listen." He then turned to Ben and said to him, "Before anything, you go and put all of yer things in yer drawers." "Would you like some help, Ben?" Claire asked. Ben thought about it for a minute and answered, "Sure. I don't mind."

They spent nearly a half of an hour putting away his new clothes and Claire was careful of what she helped to put away. When the job was completed Claire had to mention, "You bought a lot of new clothes. And I didn't see any old clothes in your drawers. Why is that?" Now Ben had to think fast and come up with an excuse as to why his drawers were bare. "Oh, well..." He started off. "That's cause we recently went through his drawers for damaged and ruined clothes. Nearly all of them were thrown out, so I sent him shopping for more with the cash he made from selling some of those rubies." Laurence explained. "Oh. That makes sense." Claire said with realization. "Y'all ready ta go talk to yer folks then?" Laurence then asked her. "Just a moment, Mr. Juice. I just need to get the butterflies out of my stomach." Claire said nervously. Laurence simply nodded in understanding and exited the room momentarily. Ben, feeling like Laurence had just placed too big of a burden on the poor girl, walked up to Claire to try and stave her nerves. Placing his hand on her shoulder, he said, "Listen, if ya get too nervous just remember..." Before he could finish his sentence, Claire planted her lips against his firmly and kissed him for three seconds before she broke off and looked at him awkwardly and shyly. "Thanks for everything Ben. I know you'll be there for me. That doesn't make it any easier." Ben simply sat there next to her, dumbfounded, while Claire sat in silence and grasped at her arms with nervousness reaching its peak.

After another few minutes, Claire was led outside to join Laurence in the long walk home. "So, ya left yer cell phone at home because you didn't want anyone ta contact ya?" Laurence repeated after Claire gave her explanation to them. "Yah." She replied bashfully. During the long walk home, Claire decided to ask Ben a completely random question out of the blue. "Why do you hang around that 'goth-girl', Lydia so much? What is it about her that you like so much?" Ben was completely thrown off by the question and walked at her right side, bewildered for a few seconds before he thought about an answer. "Well, I nevah really thought about it that much. But, if ya need an answer, perhaps it's because, she nevah judges ya. Ya always feel accepted around her. Even though she can sometimes get on ya nerves, ya never feel like ya can't talk to her. That's what I like about her." He honestly answered. "She never judges you, huh?" Claire mumbled to herself and then stayed quiet, thinking about that answer for a time.

It was another long trip and Claire had fallen asleep while being carried by Ben, piggy-back style. For a time it was now just Ben and his 'golem clone' grandfather left to just talk about reality rather than constantly thinking of lies to create a false past. Laurence still maintained his Australian accent but Ben switched his voice back into Beetlejuice. "Ya know that there's no way y'all can keep this façade up forever, right?" Laurence stated. "Yah, I think that I've always known that." Beetlejuice replied. "But the way I see it, 'the fewer living souls that know the truth, the better we can fight!' No one to worry about in another world. Plus, none of them would last a minute in the Neitherworld. I imagine that Naria has been hard at work since the air mysteriously cleared up." Suddenly, a memory of Lydia telling him of her discovery, while in Naria's body, flashed before him. "Doh! How could I be so stupid? I forgot to tell Aldar about the Moonwhisp's effect on Naria's cauldron!" Suddenly, a pair of lights could be seen coming towards them in the distance. A black Rolls Royce Phantom eventually pulled up to the traveling pair and three well dressed higher class people could be seen sitting inside. One of them dressed in a black tuxedo suit and had a monocle on his left eye, he was also around seventy years old and had white mustache that followed the creases around his mouth and touched his chin. The other two were a man and woman wearing modern day fancy clothes. The man wore a kind of navy blue pin-striped business suit with a bright white button up shirt and dark colored neck tie. The woman wore a kind of evening dress that was cherry colored. She accented it with a wide brimmed hat that extended the distance of her shoulders and was decorated with a multitude of violet and light blue feathers. The woman looked like she may as well still be in her early twenties while the man was clearly in his forties.

"Oh, thank you for finding our daughter." The man said in a tone that clearly said, "I'm rich so you don't matter much." Laurence retorted honestly and with as much respect as he could muster, "It's a pleasure sir, but it was yer daughter who found us. We just took care of her till she decided to go back." Laurence then turned to Ben and nudged Claire awake by her shoulder. "Wake up Miss." He said while Ben stood simply holding her over his back. The stirring soon awakened the sleeping girl and she slowly and groggily opened her eyes and lifted her head. It took her a few seconds to realize that her parents had just come into view and she shot her head up fully once the realization had kicked in. "Mom? Dad? What..." She started until Laurence interrupted in a kind manner. "They were worried about you so they came ta find ya." He explained. Surprised by these events, Claire simply clung to the boy that was carrying her and stared at the two people in front of her in awe. To get the conversation on the right track, Laurence decided to add to his earlier statement, "Claire does have some words ta say to ya, don't ya Claire?" Claire's mind then clicked back on and she remembered what she was mentally preparing for. "Mom, dad..." She started off bashfully. But the only look she had gotten from her father was that same pompous corporate owner look from him. Her mother, on the other hand, looked genuinely concerned and responsive to her plight. At first her nervousness was going to get the best to her until she remembered Laurence's words, "Nothing gets done till you get up and do it." "Why did you both back out of the dance? I was actually looking forward to seeing you guys there." While Mr. Brewster was dumbfounded and speechless, her mother responded sincerely, "I thought that we might have been cramping your style, honey. We didn't realize that you may actually have wanted us there. We thought you might get embarrassed." "Embarrass me! Please!" She then pleaded as Ben slowly placed her feet back onto the ground. Claire then walked up to both of her parents with her plea in her eyes. "I just wanna be a normal family like when I was little. You were there for me all of the time, ready to share time with each other at a glance." She continued with tears welling up in her eyes and her voice beginning to make its way into a sob. "Now, you are never there when I need you. It's always the next big job for the both of you. I realize that you both have important things to do, but I need more than just the maids and large fluffy, toys. I haven't been able to even speak to you for six years. I know it sounds backwards, but I want you guys to invade my privacy, I want you guys to ask me how school was, and I want you guys to just **be** there." With her words and thoughts out in the open now it was time for the moment of truth. Her mother had her own tears welling up in her eyes and approached Claire with a motherly embrace and a whispered, "I'm so sorry." Her father now even began to lose his composure. "If it means so much to you, Claire, we'll usher for the dance like we promised." Claire then hugged her mother back as her father then moved in to hug the pair. Ben simply stood by watching and thinking about his own mysterious parents. Not the lies that were conjured up, but his own real parents that he had no memory of. "Maybe someday, I'll find you out there. And once I do, we'll have a lot of catching up to do." He thought to himself.

The afternoon of the next day, the dance had begun and Ben made sure that Lydia stuck around to "enjoy" the festivities. She tried to sneak out twice but, as if fate was playing a huge joke on her, she met Bertha the first time and was led back to the table and the second time she met up with Prudence who dragged her by the hand, looking similar to a big and little sister scene. Lydia wore a form fitting navy blue dress with spider web leggings and mid heeled shoes. The dress fell past three quarters the distance of her legs and she was flustered at the fact that Ben dragged her to the party in the first place. Suddenly she heard a voice that she wanted to avoid during the dance. "Hi Ben. Thanks for meeting me here." Claire squeaked to Ben. "Hi there Claire. How are things with yer folks?" He asked. She just smiled awkwardly and said, "Well, let's just say that I got **everything** I asked for." Ben just started laughing hysterically while Lydia and the other two girls looked at each other confused. "I don't get it." Prudence finally blurted out. "That's ok. I'll tell y'all later." Ben answered after he was done laughing. "You two should dance at least once." Claire then blurted out to Ben and Lydia. As if in synch with each other, they both clamed up and blushed furiously when they turned to look at each other. Just at that moment, they heard the end of Jason Derulo's "Don't Wanna Go Home" and the beginning of Roxette's "Listen to Your Heart". Ben then stood up and offered his hand to his friend and led her to the dance floor when she accepted it. The two then danced throughout the dance and now it was Lydia's turn to feel safe close to him. She recalled the adventures they both shared and the first day she met him. With nostalgia in her heart, Lydia finally rested her head against Ben's chest and allowed the sound of the music carry her away.

End of Episode 14


	15. Episode 15 Secret Revealed

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 15: Secret Revealed**

Another week passed by before Lydia and Beetlejuice could meet up with Aldar and the others. And when they did, Naria had an ambush waiting for them. The moment, the duo exited through the dimension door, they found themselves with about thirty spears aimed at their faces. Lydia glanced behind her only to see her door finish vanishing into thin air. "Did we come back at a bad time?" Beetlejuice coyly asked to Naria. "Oh no. You came at just the right time." Naria evilly grinned back. "Epic 'fail' on that snappy comeback." Lydia said through her teeth. "Don't worry Lyd's. Your Spider Silk shield will protect us, right?" Beetlejuice said with confidence. "Don't put too many eggs in that basket. We don't even know exactly **how** it works or any of its limits." Lydia quickly responded. "Thanks to you, all of my spells have been nullified and rendered useless. So, now all I am left with is any alternate soul powers that I have absorbed and my natural ability to control sand worms and the sand that comes from their homelands." Naria informed them. Beetlejuice finally noticed that, despite how much time had passed, the air of the Nietherworld hadn't been re-polluted. Granted that the sky was darkened by black clouds, but it still somehow smelled like the mountain air of Oregon.

"I don't get it." Beetlejuice said to himself aloud. "How is the air still clean?" "That's because it took fifty years to get the air to that level of toxicity. Right now it isn't even capable of killing anything living. Rotten girl." Naria retorted angrily. "When I get my hands on you, I'll enjoy every moment of erasing your existence." Lydia decided to belay the asking about the sand worms' supposed "homeland" and simply focus on trying to stay alive. Lydia finally noticed that the spot that her door always appeared was just at the edge of a long cliff that led to an endless desert of white sand. Realizing the choices involved, Lydia barely had time to decide when fate intervened. The stretch of cliff that she and her guardian ghost were standing on began cracking under the strain of the weight of all thirty two beings standing near the same area. Before she could panic, Lydia gazed up to her enemy and found her smiling wickedly with a sinister glint in her eye. "Perhaps you could feed some of the sand worms while you're down there. They prefer lost souls, but perhaps they'll take to a **living soul**. Bye!" And with that, the spit of cliff collapsed and all of them tumbled down to the great white desert below.

Time slowed down to a mere crawl, dirt, rock, and stone all collapsing at once, A horde of bronze armor turning into sand the closer they got to the bottom, Beetlejuice's muffled voice calling out to Lydia. "Let's **fly**!" He shouted while reaching out to her with his left hand. She clasped her hand around his palm just as he began hovering in the air. They hung there for a short while before Beetlejuice set his sights on the witch that dropped them. However, he froze the moment he heard a familiar rumbling coming from the cliff face in front of him. From the rock and stone the terrifying creature erupted. The sand worn then caught poor Lydia by the barrier and dragged her right out of Beetlejuice's hand. Frozen still with fear, Beetlejuice hesitated to move to save his host. He was snapped out of his revere when two crimson arrows zinged passed his face and continued until they struck the sand worm in the large head, burying their sharp tips deep in and causing the sand worm to release Lydia followed by a glass shattering shriek. The arrows were then followed by Aldar sky diving for the earth girl with a rope tied in a make shift harness around his shoulders and waist. Beetlejuice reacted before the rope was out of reach. He grabbed it with his hands and held on for dear life. He then flew downward, following Aldar until he snagged Lydia in mid air. Once Aldar had her secure enough, Beetlejuice simply stopped his decent and slowly hauled them back up the cliff face.

During that time, Sierra had held her ground against Naria's remaining soldiers. Her skills with the bow and arrow hand dramatically increased, and she now could knock an arrow and fire it in a smooth motion within the same second. Her quiver had once been filled with thirty arrows but she now was down nine. The last soldier fell to the ground that she was standing on in a heap of sand and she trained her next arrow on Naria herself. The arrow flew with great speed and precision until Naria simply placed her right hand in its path and caught it in mid flight four inches from the arrow head. The evil queen simply glared at the Atlantian princess with an evil scowl and tightened her grip until the arrow's shaft snapped in two near her middle finger and then simply dropped the broken arrow at her feet. Slightly shocked, Sierra knocked another arrow and fired it again at her. Naria again caught the arrow in the same spot with her right hand and snapped it in the same place. "You fool. I've recently absorbed the powers of the Angelic Queen. This means that I can gaze into any of your minds now so long as I can see your eyes. None of you can defeat me now!" Naria gloated with anger and pride mixed in.

In a hurry, Beetlejuice zoomed upward with both Lydia and Aldar in tow. Beetlejuice then gently set the two down behind Sierra and Aldar quickly used the soul eater to cut the ropes off of his body and face against his sister. "Be careful guys. She's absorbed the Angelic Queen's soul and stole her powers." Sierra warned them. Aldar looked at his sister with ultimate disappointment. "No." He whispered. "What have you done? I thought that she meant too much to you deep down. Demattix has truly corrupted you now. You're nothing more than a demon now. My sister is **dead**." He then yelled to her. Naria simply retorted, "News flash, 'Bro', we've **always** been demons. Born in the Underworld and doomed to return there at the end of our destinies. All I did was find a way to bypass that and gain eternal power and youth." Aldar gazed at his sister confused and dumbfounded. "None of us can harm her now." He said to his companions. "We should retreat for now." Naria then began laughing aloud at the mere thought of allowing a retreat. "What makes you think that I would allow any of you to escape? I will have that spider silk, Lydia. Weather I have to peel it off of you corpse or through the extraction ritual. I will have it." And the moment she finished her sentence, Naria extended her left hand toward the group of friends and began firing lightning bolts at them. Even though the lightning simply bounced off of the spider silk's barrier, the evil queen never let up, intent on shattering it and dispatching any of those who had gotten in her way. Her wicked laugh echoing through the air, Naria was certain that her victory was nigh.

"Everyone turn you back on her." Aldar shouted to the rest of them. Lydia and Beetlejuice looked at him in wonder as to what that would do. "That's right!" Sierra exclaimed in revelation. "She can only read your mind as long as she can see your eyes. If we turn away from her she can't anticipate our next move." Lydia and Beetlejuice looked at each other with slight confusion and finally turned away from the insane demon. It was hard to concentrate with the flashing lights from all of the lightning bolts bouncing off of the barrier. Aldar was the first to strategize for the group. "Hopefully she hasn't discovered our hiding place from reading our minds. I'll slip back to the Road House while Lydia transports you all back to the Outerworld. Hopefully I can find something there that can help us defeat her once and for all." He then turned and spoke directly to Sierra. "Stay safe until I contact you through the mirror." He then pressed his lips against hers before she could say anything. It seemed like the kiss lasted forever, but he finally broke away from the now daydreaming Atlantian Princess and slipped over the cliff side to begin his discreet journey back to the Road House. "Although I know I should be weary." Lydia began. "Still I venture someplace scary." Suddenly they heard the sound of glass violently cracking against an enormous pressure. "Screw this! Hang on!" Lydia finally blurted out in a mild panic. Both Beetlejuce and Sierra snagged Lydia by the appropriate wrists while she began chanting her guardian ghost's name. "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice..." Before she could say the final part, the barrier shattered and a lightning bolt struck Lydia in the back and she was slightly thrown forward and onto her knees. Panting and barely conscious she coughed out the final word just as the evil demon queen was readying to finish the rest of them off. "Beetlejuice!" She said in pain and the three of them vanished at the same moment another lightning bolt struck the ground where they once stood. Realizing that she had missed another chance, Naria grew irate once more and began shouting to the sky.

Lydia and the others appeared in her room in a flash, which was about the time it took Lydia to collapse from the impact of the lightning bolt. Quickly, Sierra lifted Lydia's shirt to see if there was a burn mark that they would have to explain. Miraculously, the only burn mark on her back was around the size of a dime and it was more of a red spot than anything else. However, Lydia could still feel the muscles in her back tighten up and the impact drove the wind out of her, causing her to faint on the floor of her bedroom. Sierra and Beetlejuice quickly did what they could to awaken her. Sierra dashed as quietly as she could to the nearest restroom to fetch some cold water while Beetlejuice simply laid her head in his lap and gently patted her cheeks. Sierra gathered as much water in her left hand as she could, which was more than a human can due to her webbed fingers. She then carried the water carefully and quietly back into Lidia's room and allowed it to trickle over her friend's face. The sudden shock of the cold water brought the girl out of her unconsciousness and caused her to jolt into a sitting position. Sierra then brought the remainder of the water down to Lydia's mouth to let her drink if need be, which she did while Beetlejuice rubbed his hands up and down her back to try and loosen up the tension from the lightning's impact.

It was only a matter of minutes before they heard footsteps of one of her parents coming closer. Sierra quickly rolled under the bed while Beetlejuice morphed back into the hideous doll and placed himself near Lydia's pillow. Delia then knocked and slowly opened the door to peek into Lydia's room. She saw her step-daughter standing in the middle of her room with her right hand trying to support her back. "Honey, are you hurt again?" She said in shock and slight worry. Lydia looked at the worried woman and decided to try and comfort her. "No mam, I just slept wrong, is all." She answered gently to her. "Are you sure?" Delia asked still with worry in her eyes. A slight pain shot through Lydia's back before she simply nodded in confirmation to her step-mother. Delia then gazed at the sixteen year old girl with a touch of worry as she slowly closed the door to her room. They waited to hear for Delia's footsteps to fade away before they returned, Beetlejuice morphing back to his original form and Sierra sliding back out from under the bed. "What about Ginger and Jacques?" Lydia asked Sierra as the Atlantian Princess stood to her feet. "There fine." She answered in her southern belle accent. "They were sent to infiltrate the castle library and retrieve any Angelic Journals they could find while Naria was away from the castle. They should be meeting up with Aldar by now with a report and hopefully some journals."

Lydia let out a slightly pained sigh when she heard that her friends could be alright, still feeling her back tighten up from the earlier strike. "So, how come I didn't get electrocuted?" Lydia asked. "Because a spell like that only is as strong as the electrical currents of a living human body. Its force comes from being compacted energy. It's only meant to slow down its target, not kill it." Sierra answered. A moment of awkward silence came from the other two at her sudden knowledge of magical spells. Sierra broke the silence by bashfully saying, "I asked Aldar a similar question. That was pretty much what he told **me**." After another few seconds of awkward silence, Lydia finally spoke up. "Whatever. Look, you guys need to get back to the cabin ASAP. **Ben** and I have an important test tomorrow in gym class and there is now way either of us will be ready for it if we don't get some rest." She slightly complained. Beetlejuice made his way over to the window and pulled open the blinds to reveal the light of the day. "See you at school tomorrow." Beetlejuice said to his friend before carrying Sierra out of the window piggy-back style.

The next day, Ben joined Lydia for the gym class they had just before lunch time. Before class began, the students were separated to their appropriate locker rooms to change into their gym outfits. Reluctantly, Lydia began slipping into her gym clothes until she changed out of her shirt and she heard Bertha ask from behind her, "What happened to your back?" Lydia shot around to try and hide the burn mark that was clearly on the center of her back only to accidentally show it to Prudence. "It looks like an electrical burn." The short statured bookworm girl stated plainly for all to hear. Lydia was surprised at how many of the other girls gathered around her, worried about the girl who stood up to the bullies and bested them. "Well, I..." She began but was unable to actually come up with a plausible excuse. Suddenly, she heard another voice that sounded slightly pompous but had a ring of kindness to it. "Leave her alone for now girls. You shouldn't put her in the spot light like that. Besides, that's where **I** belong." Clare said to the others as the crowd parted to allow her to face her rival for Ben's affection. Claire then simply stared at Lydia for some time with a snide look on her face until the crowd of girls dispersed until all but Lydia, Claire, Bertha, and Prudence only remained. Lydia stood there in slight shock with just her bra and school skirt on. Claire scanned Lydia up and down inquisitively and finally stated, "I think I can see why he likes you so much." She teased. "But you owe us all an explanation after school. That kind of injury doesn't happen by accident." Her tone of voice was serious and direct, letting poor Lydia know that she didn't want to be messed with in the slightest. Lydia gulped nervously at the thought of having to explain everything she has been doing to her friends. Especially the instance where she had Sierra manipulate their memories.

The rest of school was an awkward mess with Lydia trying desperately to figure out a way to keep the secret of her adventures just that, and figuring out how to explain to Beetljuice that her friends were beginning to catch on. She barely notice that her friends weren't there to meet her after school and continued to walk home and even made it home before she could even recognize her front doorstep. Her thoughts were dominated with the possibilities of how to explain to her friends that she is a link to the realm of the dead. She never even noticed three girls following her home.

Lydia slowly opened her front door to enter the once old and decrepit house. "Hi dad, I'm home." She solemnly said still in deep thought, barely even noticing that there was no response from any of the other rooms. "They must be on another dinner date." She surmised. She began walking up to her room to flop onto her bed and mull over her thoughts when she noticed Beetlejuice standing at the top of the staircase with his eyes wide open as if he had seen the ghost of a ghost. Not saying a word, Beetlejuice gestured for Lydia to turn around using the first finger of his right hand. Lydia was in for quite a shock when she noticed Clare, Bertha, and Prudence standing just at the bottom of the stairs with frightened looks in their eyes. The three of them sprang into action and placed themselves in front of their friend to attempt to protect her from what they truly thought was a thief. "Prudence, call the police. Bertha, get Lydia out of here." Claire sternly said until Beetlejuice threw his hands up and pleaded, "Whoa, whoa don't do that. I can explain Claire." She was now bewildered that this invader knew her name. "Lydia, where is your phone?" Prudence innocently asked from at the bottom of the stairs. "There's one you can reach in the living room, Prudence. It's near the far corner on a lamp table." Beetlejuice instinctively answered. She stood there also bewildered saying only, "How?", trying to ask how he knew that. "Beetlejuice!" Lydia scolded him.

Bashfully, Beetlejuice gulped and said, "Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag." Just then, Beetlejuice noticed, the inside of his coat begin to wriggle and when he opened it up, a black and white striped cat jumped out and ran down the stairs startling all of the girls in the process as it darted past their feet. Lydia then shot a nasty glare ant him in which he responded with a nervous smile of apology. "Wait, what's going on? How does he know our names?" Claire asked rather confused. Beetlejuice then stretched forth his hand to shake Claire's and morphed into the form they all knew him to be. "Hi, Ben Juice is me name, but you can call me Beetljuice." He said in his Australian accent. Claire almost jumped out of her shoes when she witnessed him shift from a forty year old hobo in a striped suit to the boy she kissed on the lips just before the Spirit Week Dance. "Wha... Where... Why..." Was all that she could say, still in shock from the sudden transformation.

"Should I go and get Sierra?" Ben then asked Lydia frustrated. Lydia finally exhaled in slight relief and disappointment, "Yah that would be best. Just stick to the shadows the best you can. I don't want anyone coming here thinking that I'm harboring an 'alien' or something." Ben then nodded and made his way down the stairs and out of the front door. Bertha was about to 'geek out' at the mention of the word 'alien' when Claire once again piped in, "What the **hell**? What do you mean 'alien'? And, what just happened? That couldn't have really been Ben, could it?" She was now in Lydia's face startled and confused, demanding answers. Lydia, who was backed into the stair rail, placed her hands in front of her to try and keep Claire from getting too close. "Easy, Claire. I can explain everything." She admitted. "Yes, that was Ben. But, at the same time, it's not Ben. His real name is Beetlejuice. And he's from the Neitherworld, or the 'world of the dead'. "Then shouldn't he be a vaporous image projecting from said world?" Prudence asked adjusting her glasses. The other three simply stared at her inquisitively for a few seconds until Prudence translated for herself. "A ghost?" "Kind of." Lydia answered. "He has a physical form because I formed a guardian ghost pact, I think. I could be wrong. He knows more about this than I do." "Then we'll **wait**." Claire sternly stated, obviously annoyed at being lied to, but still not comprehending all that was going on. Lydia nervously gulped once more.

The sky began to hang thick with storm clouds and the Atlantian Princess swooned as each rain drop struck her face and caressed it as the drop ran down towards her chin. She always enjoyed standing in the rain in her bathing suit because the rain gave her the moisture she needed to survive while she was alive and she never got tired of its cool moist feeling. As the drops came down more heavily and faster, she notices a strange presence closing in on her. As she looked toward its direction, she began to recognize it as Beetlejuice approaching her. "Hey, BJ." She lightly called to him but his expression was less than cheerful as he came into full view. "Sumpthin the matter?" She asked in her clear southern belle accent. "I need you to follow me to Lydia's house. The other girls saw me in this form and they probably know Lydia's whole story by now. So, come on and introduce yourself." He said solemnly. She was surprised and even slightly confused, but still went into the cabin to collect her casual clothes that she had collected from the Road House. She had placed them inside a suitcase that Beetlejuice bought as Ben. The rain picked up and began to pour even harder now as they made their way back to the old house.

The Atlantian Princess finally approached the front door of Lydia's house, afraid not of revealing herself to others, but more of being judged as a monster. She reached and turned the door knob slowly until the door swung open quickly through Claire's impatience. Claire looked at Sierra's face in shock and amazement. When Sierra's own shock settled down, she collected her wits and bashfully whispered, "Hi y'all." Claire then looked the Atlantian up and down, sizing her up and finally stated, "Lydia was right. You really are pretty for a fish-girl." Slightly appalled, but flattered Sierra placed the backs of her hands on her hips and leaned forward while huffing, ""Excuse me?" And then walked by the golden haired girl into the house, where Claire noticed that even though she had been standing in the rain, she never dripped a single drop of water, nor did she leave any wet footprints. Sierra then walked into the closest bathroom to change into her casual clothes. "Good first impression." Prudence sarcastically retorted from the living room. "Shut up." Clare shot back while mentally kicking herself.

When Sierra entered into the living room, she gazed at all of the long faces filling the room. "Whut's wrong? Y'all can't be sore that ye made a bad first impression on me, are ye?" She joked to try and lighten the mood. "That's not it Sierra." Lydia informed her, "They have just made it clear that they didn't appreciate being lied to." "Oh." She corrected herself bashfully and sat down on the sofa across from her. She plopped down next to Claire, who promptly apologized for her rude remark earlier. "Sorry if I offended you, Sierra. It's kind of a bad habit of mine." She said softly. Sierra then looked at Claire rather surprised and softened her own expression. "That's ok. It's not like anyone has called me pretty out here before. Everyone confuses me for a darn alien. I died from asphyxiation back in the fifties. Apparently the secret portion of the government experimented on my body after killing me." "That's just horrible." Prudence stated. And with that, the group finally began conversing and befriending each other.

In the Neitherworld, Jacques and Ginger returned in a hurry, Ginger breathing heavily as if they had been chased all of the way from the castle back to the Road House. "Oh my bonez!" Jacques complained. "Try having to sooth eight feet later" Ginger retorted. "What happened?" They heard Aldar's voice ask them. "We found all fouer bookz. But, I don't know iv any of zem vill be of any halp. We skimmed srew all of zem and not one sing waz mensioned about any zpell to open ze zpirit gate." Jacques answered. Aldar then placed his hand to his chin to think about the scenario. "You two get some rest." He said to them. "I'll look through the Road House and see what I can uncover. Who knows, perhaps it's here somewhere."

End of Episode 15


	16. Episode 16 The Spirit Gate

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 16: The Spirit Gate**

Utilizing his night vision the best he could, Aldar began to creep through all one hundred and thirty rooms of the Road House after gathering all of the door keys from the main office and connecting them onto a large key ring for easier access. It took him three and a half hours before he came to room ninety eight. Standing before it like he had done to all of the other rooms before, he searched for its key and inserted it into the lock. Once the bolt clicked and told Aldar that he had selected the correct key, he whipped out an arrow head from his left hip pocket and used its tip to scar the room number onto both sides of the key. He then put the ring of keys around a makeshift holder that he had fashioned from loose metal and hooks from a refrigerator magnet. Aldar made his way into the apartment entry looking upon the darkened furniture from the lack of light from the night. As he did in all of the rooms before, Aldar opened the drapes of the window to let light in even if the window faced away from the Neitherworld's moon. Once the dim light flooded the room, objects were much easier to see and so he scanned the room. The layout looked similar to all of the others. A staircase that led to the second floor began at the left of the main entry hall and was a mere ten feet from the door. Beyond that was a small living room with an old television and miniature sofa in front of it. A couple of gaming systems were connected to the television obviously for the entertainment of a younger audience. The living room also connected to a half-sized kitchen that was decorated similar to most other kitchens in this complex. A refrigerator near the back wall, with counters surrounding, giving a resident just enough walking room to cook and clean.

Aldar looked around the apartment room curious to find any trace or clue of an Angelic Journal. When he couldn't find anything downstairs, he decided to move to the upstairs. On the way up he counted eight stairs until the top. A door just to his right on the higher landing led to the restroom that doubled as a bathroom in cramped quarters. Just ahead of him, he found a bedroom with a bed and bookshelf among other items to make the space comfortable. He decided to look at the bookshelf to find out any clues. Starting from the top of the shelf and working his way down, he noticed something strange in the titles of the books found here. "Basic spells for the magically gifted", "A warrior's soul: A guide to combat", and other titles he recognized from the castle library during the rule of Queen Myra. Suddenly, in the center of the second shelf, he noticed a familiar leather-bound book with no title. Shocked, he slipped the book out from in between two larger books, a light blue one on the right and a black one on the left. He turned the book to view the front cover and noted the engraved image of Queen Myra and no other title. He widened his eyes upon noticing exactly what he was looking for. "This is an Angelic Journal." He said aloud to himself. Aldar then, opened the book and walked out of the apartment building and into the moonlight. "Let's see. The only way to view her hidden entries is, moonlight and focus of the mind. If I focus on the Spirit Gates and if this book has any entries on it..." He was interrupted the moment a page in the front of the book began to glow brightly. He turned to it and began reading its contents.

"Outerworld date: June sixteenth, sixteen ten. I was a fool to think that delegating with a demon king was going to work. Vordak, instead of meeting me in person as we agreed, sent a horde of demons to slaughter us and take me to him. I fear that I may now be carrying his child. To stop him from invading any of the other realms, I cast a spell on the Spirit Gates and sealed them shut. Only I know the way to permanently unlock it. That spell, I shall write on the back page of the first volume of my journals." He continued to read the glowing page determined to learn all that he could of the Spirit Gates and if there was any alternate way to unlock them, and as his thoughts and focus changed, so did the page that was glowing. He flipped to the middle of the book and read, "Outerworld date: August twenty eighth sixteen ten. To keep Vordak from seizing my child when it is born, I've developed a method to bypass the seal of the Spirit Gates temporarily and traverse to the Outerworld. I have been there once before as a child long ago and I gave thought to living there. I wonder how much it has changed in a thousand years. The spell to bypass the lock is printed within this diagram." As Aldar looked, he beheld a circle with seventeen layers and a Sanskrit letter was located in the very center filling up the smallest layer and no more. In between each other layer Sanskrit writing fit neatly as if it were saying something like a recipe but one had to read it in a circular pattern. The outer edges of the largest layer of the circle had small points coming out of it similar to a compass on a map. Underneath the diagram was more Sanskrit writing only this one read properly in the appropriate direction.

Aldar sat and studied the diagram and was about to begin memorizing it when suddenly from within the blackened night sky, a small creature about the size of a toddler swiped the book from him and began running off with it. "What the... Hey! Get back here!" Aldar called to the thief. Once the little thing passed through the moonlight Aldar suddenly recognized the little imp and realized the gravity of his situation. "Demattix?" He gasped and then ran faster to try and catch up with the little creature. "If Naria gets that spell, the Outerworld could be doomed." He said aloud to himself. Demattix turned and began to taunt Aldar as he hopped as fast as he could away from him, "Ha, ha! Look at this. The Great Warrior Aldar cannot seem to catch a small defenseless imp. Oh how far the mighty have fallen." The taunts however fell on deaf ears as Aldar recognized the idea behind his taunts. "Looks like he wants me to use the power of the Soul Eater and tire myself out. But why? He knows that by doing that, I could easily cut him down and send him back to the Underworld. What are you planning?" He found out the moment he turned the corner to the complex headed back to the main office to the Road House. A horde of sand soldiers had captured both Jacques and Ginger while they were sleeping and were beginning to haul them outside to make the long journey back to the castle dungeons. "What are you going to do there, **hero**?" Demattix taunted some more as he flew away toward the castle, keeping a great enough distance away from Aldar. "You can use your sword's ability to transfer your soul's energy into speed and catch up to me and claim the spell, or you could destroy the horde of soldiers set to feed your friends to a sand worm just out of range of the garbage dump. Either way, you'll be too exhausted afterward to do any more. He, he, he!" Demattix never changed directions as he raised his voice for Aldar to hear, and never stopped his journey back to the castle.

Aldar still never hesitated, he dashed toward the horde of sand soldiers and began slaying them one by one, thinking that he could use his sword's ability to still catch up with Demattix when he was finished. He dispatched more and more sand soldiers by his own hand until they were all but five. Suddenly, they heard the ground begin to rumble and shake violently until a sand worm burst forth from the ground and set its sights on devouring the three of them. "Damnit!" Aldar blurted out before facing off against the sand worm in heated battle while Demattix simply flew off safely with the book. Aldar continued to struggle with the sand worm while Jacques and Ginger made their way to the Road House to fetch any weapon they could find. The sand worm lunged at Aldar as he readied his sword for a killing strike across his body. Waiting fr the sand worm to come in as close as possible, he then side stepped and slashed his sword into the monster's inner head and ran along its body length while tearing the sword's blade through its flesh. He traveled twenty feet down the body length when he thrust the sword downward to finish the beast off. The sand worm let out a shrill screech before falling lifeless to the ground and finally disintegrating into dust. Three balls of light were left behind when the body disappeared. Those three balls of light blue warm light gently floated toward the Soul Eater and the eye blinked the moment they got within two feet of the blade. It then shot out strands of the goo that bonded the eye to the sword and snagged all three balls of light and then began pulling them in toward it. Once one of the balls of light reached the eye of the Soul Eater, the eye then blinked once more and the ball of light was then consumed by the purple goo that caught it. The process then continued with the last two souls. "Damnit." Aldar repeated once more. "I hate feeding you." He spoke to the sword. Suddenly without warning, another sand worm erupted from the ground underneath Aldar's feet and caught him by the left arm. As the creature dragged him off, Aldar shouted in pain and flipped his sword upside down. He then plunged the sword strait into the beast's head, in between the eyes and violently twisted the blade causing the worm to bleed its green blood all over his front and mix with his own golden crimson blood. The sand worm disintegrated as it fell to the ground and slid to a stop. Aldar slowly stood up with its teeth marks strewn across his shoulder in front and in back, his golden crimson blood pouring from the wounds. He silently cursed himself for being so foolish to let Demattix escape with the one spell that could doom both realms, but at the same time was relieved that Jacques and Ginger weren't hurt. Now if he only knew how to contact the others in the Outerworld he would be able to formulate a strategy.

In the Outerworld, the others had just finished another day of school and decided to head over to Ben's house to further discuss Lydia's adventures, under the pretext of studying and hanging out. As Lydia explained her happenings from the Nietherworld, things became even more unbelievable to the other three girls if they didn't have both Beetlejuice and Sierra sitting with them. Lydia even reminded Prudence and Bertha of the day she was attacked by Adrian and of how Prudence discovered the hidden entries within the journal. Neither of them seemed enthused with Sierra messing with their memories.

Once Lydia had finished telling her story to the three girls, they decided to join her on a trip to the Nietherworld. "It just seems so far-fetched," Prudence sighed. All of the others simply gazed at her with half-laden annoyed expressions as she awkwardly grinned her nervousness to them. "Looks like we got little choice her Lids." Beetlejuice said to her from where he was standing, which was near his 'grandfather's' chair. Prudence, Bertha, Clare and Sierra all sat in a semi-circular fashion in the middle of the living room as close to the fireplace as they could get without rubbing elbows with Sierra being the furthest away so as to not dry out too fast. Lydia gave it all a thought for some time until she concluded that it might be best to try and scare them into staying out of the battles by showing them what she was up against. "Oh kay guys. But I can guarantee that you will not like what you see. Just make sure that you are touching either me or Beetlejuice until we arrive at the Nietherworld." She stated. "It won't be pretty in the slightest." Beetlejuice then finally joined the group and they all joined hands while Lydia chanted Beetlejuice's name three times. "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" They all then found themselves wisped away through a strange flash of light. Once the light had faded as quickly as it came, the others found themselves in a barren wasteland with very few changes in land terrain. "Looks like you transported us to Orlando Florida before civilization." Claire joked at the flat terrain. "I'm sure even that would be livelier than this place. Is there any sign of life here at all?" Bertha asked. "How can there be?" Lydia asked. "This is the land of the **dead**, Bertha." "Then shouldn't there be some ghosts or zombies or something wandering around?" Prudence asked, looking around for anything moving. Lydia also stood around, looking for any sign of anything. Usually while she arrives in the Nietherworld, there are a few lost souls still wandering around and others that she notices hiding from the soldiers that are marching through. However, today, she couldn't even see a single sand soldier anywhere. "That's weird? There are usually at least ten or so sand soldiers patrolling this area. What's going on here?" She said aloud, mostly to herself. "Beetlejuice." She then began turning her attention to the equally worried guardian ghost. "I know babes. We should get back to the Road House and check up on the others." He answered her. Lydia then turned back to the others and instructed them, "Stay close to us just in case there is anything dangerous along the way."

They all stayed together while traveling to their destination. Sierra felt helpless without her bow and arrows during the journey and she even felt uneasy at how quiet the travel was. Indeed it was quiet. Their journey to the Road House was eventless. As if all of the guards had gathered at the castle or were cleaned out. The recent destruction suggested that they relocated and abandoned their posts. "Something's not right." Lydia whispered aloud to Beetlejuice. "I know. It's kinda creepy how this all had been abandoned." He answered equally quiet.

They reached the Road House in around a half of an hour and there they saw Aldar, being treated for his recent wounds by Ginger, her eight appendages coming in handy to tying the bandages. At first Claire, Bertha and Prudence were about to shriek at the same time from the sight of her until Lydia stopped them. "Guys, don't! She's a nice spider. Meet Ginger." She introduced. Ginger however, didn't seem completely convinced. But, before she could tell the three girls to 'go ahead get it out of their system', she was interrupted by Sierra's shriek of worry as she ran up to her love. "Oh my gosh! What in tarnation happened to you?" She asked in a panic at seeing his wrapped up shoulder. Trying to put on a brave face, Aldar tilted his eyebrows upward and said to her, "It's nothing. See I can barely feel it." When he said that he made an attempt to move his arm but cringed in pain as his shoulder rose to its full height. Sierra simply glared at him with worry and annoyance and asked, "What happened?"

After learning that Aldar had found a spell that could unlock the spirit gates temporarily, Lydia was furious at first but at the same time, she knew that he had done all that he could and was glad that he made the decision to rescue the others first. "Great, the one time that Demattix followed you back and he gets his claws on the one spell that can doom all four realms. "Four?" Claire asked in confusion. "The four realms divide the souls amongst each other and also keeps wars from breaking out, sugar." Sierra informed her while re-wrapping Aldar's injuries. "Divides the souls?" Bertha asked as a follow up question. "Among the realms, there are four types of souls. You would be known as a living soul here. And your world is known as the Outerworld. The other three are created when a living soul from the Outerworld dies and becomes separate from the living body at the end of its individual mortality. You would become a blessed soul if your life was filled with great things that fill your soul with light. You would then be sent to the heaven realm. You become a condemned soul and are sent to the underworld realm if you lived a darker style of life that pretty much malformed your soul. You call it 'evil'. The rest become lost souls and are sent here, the Nietherworld. It's a harsh system but if the spirit gates never existed, residents of either the Heavenly realm or the Underworld would separate the souls by hand. And that usually means favorites. And favorites would often be granted immortality. Or even some would be granted immortality out of spite." Aldar said and then followed up with, "You see the problems there. Actually when an area becomes overcrowded, some can even volunteer for reincarnation according to the realm's laws." He then cringed as Sierra accidently agitated one of the wounds on his shoulder. "Careful, Luv." He gently said to her just before she apologized. Sierra then blushed in slight surprise when she realized that he called her 'Luv'. The two of them then gazed in to each others' eyes for some time until Claire said under her breath, "They're an item."

The two of them broke their gaze to each other and blushed uncontrollably. Aldar then decided to get down to business. "The thing is, now Naria has the means to take over your world. We have to..." He was interrupted by the familiar sound of the Seer's voice. "After a thousand years of peace, a shadow envelops the land. And the shadow shall rule with a grip of iron and sand. The silk of the spider shall emerge from her great sleep. And protect and free the oppressed, hungry, and week. As the great gates open and the battles begin. A maiden shall slay the shadows of sin. With a golden helmet upon her head, and a silver arrow upon her bow, she'll slay the shadow in the spider's stead and the land will shine with a new dawn's glow." Everyone, nearly jumped out of their shoes as he emerged from behind the door of the main office to meet the group outside. "He, he. Did I startle you?" He later joked. Beetlejuice simply morphed himself into a toddler version of Ben and began crying his eyes out for a few seconds and then morphed back and grinned at his newest joke. "Um, who is this?" Bertha asked with Prudence hiding behind her. "Prudence, Bertha, Claire allow me to introduce The Seer." Lydia said while still trying to calm her heart down. "Naria has acquired the spell that temporarily opens the spirit gate to the Outerworld and plans to take your world by force." The old man said suddenly. "Have you been eavesdropping on us?" Claire asked slightly appalled. The old man turned his eyes to her and said, "Somewhat. But that's beside the point. My question is, will you come with me and show your friends you archery skills? You **do** shoot arrows to vent your frustrations, after all." Claire was now in surprise as to how this crazy old man could possibly know anything of her life. "You shoot arrows to vent your frustrations?" Beetlejuice asked her with wonder. She began to stammer her words until the only thing she could blurt out was, "It's more of a hobby." She then blushed beat red and turned back to the Seer.

The Seer led the group to the makeshift archery field where he handed Claire a crimson bow and arrow. She then walked away from the target until she was around one hundred and fifty feet away. She then turned around and notched her arrow and gripped the string with her first second and third finger of her right hand, holding the arrow's notch with her first and second finger. She then pulled back on the string until it was taught and she could pull back no more. She adjusted her arrow up and down for a few seconds and then released the string. They all watched as the arrow flew with amazing grace in its flight and struck the target with near perfect accuracy. "Exactly how long have you done this, young'un?" Sierra asked in surprise. Claire blushed once more and bashfully answered, "Since I was five. Rich people have odd past times."

End of Episode 16


	17. Episode 17 The Final Battle  Part 1

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 17: The Final Battle – Part 1**

They all marveled at Claire's first shot. It struck the third ring from the center dot and even looked like that it was just about to walk into the second ring. "That's a good shot." Aldar responded after examining the arrow up close. "Since you were five, huh?" Claire then began blushing harder from embarrassment and turned her face toward the ground to avoid watching the others make fun of her. Instead she heard Aldar say mostly to himself, "Alright, that settles it. Claire will assist you in the battle Sierra. I want you to teach her your method of quick draw." Claire shot her head up upon hearing that she was nominated for battle. She soon found Aldar approaching the other two girls, "Bertha and Prudence, was it?" They nodded in acknowledgement and he continued his strategizing, "Prudence, I need you on intelligence with Ginger and Bertha will be our strategist. I might be well known for by battle tactics but I'm also used to coordinating massive armies. I could use some help to strategize a smaller group such as this. Are you up for the task?" Bertha gave him a worried and nervous smile as Prudence began jumping up and down with joy that she was assigned to be an intelligence gatherer. Lydia was barely able to process what was happening until Aldar was done giving out assignments. She shook out the confusion by swinging her head from side to side and finally calling out, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! **Time out**!" She interrupted while placing the palm of her right hand against the tip of the middle finger of her left hand. The gesture had all of her fingers outstretched and touching one another to make a 'T' shape. This was pretty much the only sport's reference she knew. "I brought them here to scare them **out** of this battle. Not recruit them." She then complained.

Aldar then looked at Lydia like he thought that she was crazy for even thinking that that method ever worked. "Looks to me like the only one that is hesitant is the blonde haired one." He then said to her. Lydia turned her attention on Claire who looked like she was just about to scream in a panic. "Oh, no, no, no, no. I've never been in a war before. I don't even know how to **fight**. I only shot arrows to vent my frustrations and to simply kill time when I was bored. I'm not ready for anything like this." She said quickly out of nervousness. However, The Seer placed his old right hand on her left shoulder and softly said to her, "You are more valuable than you know, little one. Do not let your fears push you away from what your heart knows to be right." Claire stamped her foot on the ground and let out a grunting sigh in frustration. "I've always been a sucker for those corny one-liners!" She then looked around the room at the new faces she had never even dreamed of meeting, thinking of how things could possibly have been for them in this world according to what she simply has heard from Lydia.

Lydia was about to protest once again when Sierra made her argument. "Y'all realize that it doesn't matter right? If Queen Naria opens the spirit gate, she'll bring the fight to your world. We're all in this fight whether we want to be or not." Lydia looked at her Atlantian friend with worry for all of them written on her face. Sierra simply continued what she was saying, "Now, I know that y'all are scared. Me too. But someone's gotta stand up to her and take her down before she destroys both worlds and then finds a way to conquering the other two." Claire thought about the situation for some time and her and Lydia realized that Sierra was right. The fight would simply move itself over to another world if this evil queen gets her way. "Ok, Sierra. Teach me how to fight." Claire then asked with determination in her eyes.

Time went on as Claire was learning Sierra 'quick draw' method of firing arrows and even some hand-to-hand combat just in case things get harry. Prudence found her way to the intelligence center that was built from one of the rooms of the Road House. Nothing was rearranged so much as there were just a whole lot of books and written documents that had been stolen from the royal library by Ginger's stealthy traveling. She began reading as much as she could and learning all they had to teach. Once she was done reading a book or document, she instinctively organized the mess of information. Aldar and Bertha made the front desk their operations base to formulate the best possible strategy and try to iron out any kind of flaws. Aldar knew more about his sister that anyone thought and with that information, Bertha spread out a map they had found from within the room and formulated the best possible conditions that she could. Lydia and Beetlejuice traveled back to the Outerworld in order to keep a scout from within the target realm. It also allowed them to get the permission of their parents under the pretext of spending a small week long camping trip with Ben and Laurence. They were lucky that Prudence's mother trusted Ben so much and that Bertha's parents were hippies and were completely for the idea. Convincing Claire's parents wasn't hard either. They packed a suitcase for their daughter and let the two be on their way. The ones that took some convincing was Delia and Charles. Overall, they finally agreed to allow her to go, granted that she comes back completely unharmed. "Will do, Mrs. D! This time I'll fulfill my promise." He said as he turned to Lydia making the promise more to her than to Delia. "Thanks mam. Thanks dad." Lydia smiled and hugged them both. They were lucky that they still had spring vacation to keep the excuses optimal.

From what he remembered of the spell diagram inside the journal, Aldar concluded that the spell could end up taking anywhere from three days to an entire week to complete. So they all decided to get some rest that night. However, Aldar nor Sierra could sleep very well and both decided to talk to each other while wandering the complex. The two walked hand-in-hand watching the stars overhead. "I think that when this is over, I might go and live in the Outerworld." Aldar said out of the blue while still gazing at the stars. Wondering how that came up but still not wanting to kill the moment, Sierra simply asked him, "Oh, and why is that?" "All I've ever known was the Nietherworld, but there was something about the Outerworld's rugged forest that drew me to it. It was the first time that I have felt something that spiritual from a bunch of trees." Aldar concluded and then second his thoughts thinking that he sounded slightly sappy until Sierra hugged at his left arm and rested her head against his shoulder. "I think I might join ya. If'n y'all don't mind." She lightly responded. Their wandering finally came to the last door in the line of complexes. And once they passed the end of the building, they could clearly see the moon of the Nietherworld. Big, bright and full. They stood there gazing up at the moon for another good while until Sierra decided to ask, "You called me 'Luv' back there when I was dressing your wounds. Did y'all mean that, or was that just a nickname of sorts?" He stopped for a few seconds and rather than answering with words, he decided to answer her with a full kiss on the lips. She then fell into pure bliss as she closed her eyes and kissed him back. After a few seconds, he released his kiss from her and asked, "Does **that** answer your question?" Sierra then lightly chuckled as she hugged Aldar around the waist tightly, hoping to never have to let go of him.

Lydia and Beetlejuice arrived at the Road House around eight o'clock in the morning from the Outerworld's time frame and started knocking on doors to try and get the others up and awake to begin the operation. "I just hope all goes well, Beetlejuice. I'd hate to have to explain why everyone came back home dead. Even worse, if anyone dies, it'd be my fault." Lydia sighed. Beetlejuice decided to pipe in and inform his friend, "Not to mention that any manifested soul, living or otherwise, slain by one of these crimson weapons is automatically sent to the Underworld. Despite the type of soul they are or have become." He then glanced at the girl who became his best friend and notices that his words weren't helping her nerves at all. He slightly blushed and nervously chuckled while looking away from her and decided to try his hand at cheering her up. "Don't worry. They'll be fine. The plan is to take her on after we hopefully destroy the cauldron." Instead, he just got her thinking. "I neutralized the contents after they had been spilled onto the floor. I wonder what happens if the contents of the cauldron are neutralized while still inside of it." Suddenly, Beetlejuice realized his folly. "Oh shit! I forgot to tell Aldar about the moonwhisp neutralizing the cauldron's broth!"

The light of the Nietherworld's dark orange sun crept in through the windows of the last building of the complex and shined on the back of Sierra's head, warming it up gently and awaking her from her slumber. Sleeping peacefully next to her was Aldar. With their clothes strewn throughout the room the Atlantian Princess smiled at recalling her time with him the night before. She slid over and gently planted a kiss in his cheek, causing him to stir from his rest and blinking his eyes open. Upon seeing her face, her whispered, "Good morning sunshine." And stretched a small smile across his face. "We'd better get everyone up and ready to attack Naria." Sierra reminded him before she sat up and stretched the sleep out of her muscles. She then slid herself out of the bed and began putting her clothes back on. Aldar followed her lead and put his clothes back on as well.

Suddenly they heard Lydia call out both of their names as if worried about something. Sierra dashed out of the door to try and help if she could with Aldar following close behind. When they reached where Lydia was calling from, they found a strange sight. Some of the remaining residents of the Nietherworld had gathered together in search of something and arrived at the Road House. Aldar noted that there were around twenty or more residents of the Nietherworld that had gathered at the Main Office, including four teenage Atlantian girls and a family of four large hairy monsters with cowboy hats on, two parents and two children around half of their parents' height. Lydia noticed others that she had recognized from the diner like the vampire and vampiress. Many others had joined the group and it seemed that one merely partially decayed zombie man was leading them. He stepped forward saying, "Word of your rebellion had spread all over the Nietherworld." He turned back to the group that followed him and then back to Lydia, "It inspired some to join the cause. We're ready to take that bitch down."

Suddenly the four Atlantian girls squealed like cheerleaders and ran up to both Sierra and Aldar. "I can't believe you're still alive!" one shy looking girl dressed in a velvet colored top and light purple colored long skirt said to Sierra. She had light green eyes and tied her tentacles into what looked like a kind of pony tail. "I thought that that sand worm got you back at the diner." Another one said. This girl looked like she was more responsible than the other four and intelligent even without glasses. She wore a light blue blouse that looked casual business and a knee high navy skirt and had dark blue eyes and simply let her waist long tentacles drape down her back. "Is this your boyfriend? He's hot!" A third one said. She dressed in short jean pants that stopped at her knees and a darker velvet colored blouse and looked like she could hold her liquor and loved parties. She had bright blue eyes and kept her tentacles almost exactly like Sierra's. Aldar then looked down at himself only to find that he had failed to remember to put on his shirt. "Yes he is, Rina!" Sierra said, glaring at the partier. "His name is Aldar, and he once was a royal guard to the Angelic Queen." "That's so cool!" The fourth girl said. She wore a simple scarlet evening dress and tied her tentacles back behind her head in a bunch. "Are you sure you guys are ready to fight an army of sand soldiers?" Sierra asked them before they continued ogling him. "Rina's unstoppable when she's drunk. And Natalie took every opportunity to learn how to best use a spear. Sophie got strong enough to hold a shield and I learned archery and knife throwing, although none of us might be any good, we decided that we want to help any way we can." The shy one said bashfully. She referred to the girls in order of the partier, the intelligent one and the one in the dress. "We sure could use your help." Aldar said and all four girls squealed again at him simply talking to them. "Put a shirt on!" Sierra ordered with slight annoyance and jealousy.

As Aldar ran back to the room he was in last to grab his shirt, Sierra spoke to the shy Atlantian girl while noticing that Rina was leaning to one side leaning so that she could get a better look at Aldar while he was jogging away. "Are you sure, Nina? This is pretty bad stuff here. This isn't high school, this is war. You could never see your friends again when this is over." "You should see her with a throwing knife. It's nasty." Rina replied still leaning to watch Aldar jog away. Sierra finally was fed up with her and blurted out, "You look at my face when you talk to me, not my boyfriend's ass." She then said under her breath as she tried to settle herself down, "See if I give you coupon discounts for your meals from now on." Rina then stood up in attention as fast as she could and awkwardly grinned back at the princess and blurted out with respect and slight panic, "Yes your highness." This caused the other three girls to giggle at her misfortune.

Once everyone was introduced, Bertha and Aldar worked to recreate their strategy to fit a larger group of people. They ended up having to do this three times on account of more and more residents showing up to fight for their freedom. By the middle of the day the rebellion grew to around fifty or more residents of all shapes and sizes. Each an amateur at fighting and would be lucky to survive the first five minutes of a battle, but none-the-less were determined to do what they could to help out. "Oh kay." Bertha sighed while looking at the map she had spread out in front of her. "If we concentrate our forces near the castle, we may get slaughtered even without worrying about sand worms." She was frustrated with thinking and wanted a strategy with little to no casualties. She looked over her map again and again trying to figure out her plan. From what was explained to them, the lost souls that had joined them are little more than the few remaining population of the entire Nietherworld, so casualties weren't an option to her.

She was near to tearing her hair out in frustration until Lydia walked in to serve her Bertha some purified water. "How are you coming with the plan?" Lydia asked her as she placed down the clear glass of liquid. Bertha looked up from her map and at her friend, slightly startled. But she quickly calmed down and took the glass of water in her left hand. "Thanks Lydia. It's not coming very well. I'm supposed to come up with a strategy by this afternoon but, I can't think of anything that would get us in and out quickly enough to keep everyone in the battle and not sent to the Underworld. With the population dwindled this low I don't want the battle to drag on, but the most efficient way to end the whole war is to take out the queen as quickly as possible." Lydia then decided to lean over to gaze at the map. "Why don't we use the sewer duct again?" She then blurted out. Bertha quickly glanced at the map not knowing what Lydia was talking about. "What sewer duct?" Lydia then leaned in and pointed to the river behind the castle. "Behind the castle there is an old sewer duct that leads into every possible part of the castle's first floor. But the sewer is a veritable maze and difficult to navigate and you could end up lost forever." Lydia explained. Suddenly Bertha's light bulb clicked on, "If I can get a blueprint of this sewer duct, it may not be as hard to navigate. We could set up an ambush with all of the arrows and projectiles we have. When that runs out, we can then launch a direct attack against the remaining troops. Now we just have to stall any sand worms." Lydia then remembered what happened the day she was poisoned by the toxic air before it was neutralized. "They have sensitive noses but are only capable of sifting through a few scents at a time. The garbage dump drove them crazy. Kind of like catnip to a cat." She said with realization. "Does it keep them away?" Bertha asked with wonder. "According to Beetlejuice and Aldar, they prefer to stay away from what drives them crazy but will approach if Naria commands it. She apparently can communicate with them psychically at a certain distance, according to Aldar's information." Lydia informed her. "So putting garbage in our pockets is merely a deterrent." Bertha stated aloud.

Prudence rushed into the main office slightly out of breath, catching the attention of both Lydia and Bertha. "Ginger told me that the castle has been completely abandoned. Everyone is going to the southern edge of the Nietherworld." She said in a mild worry. "What are you talking about? There's no way she could have completed the spell so quickly." Lydia said in a mild panic. She then dashed out of the office to go and fetch Aldar, whom she found out training the recruits in masses. "Aldar!" She called out to him to catch his attention. Once she had reached his position, she stopped and began heavily breathing to try and regain what breath she had lost. "What's going on, Lydia?" He asked her clearly reading the worry on her face. Once Lydia caught her breath, she explained, "Prudence reported back what Ginger found out. The soldiers are moving to the southern borders of the Nietherworld. The trainees began murmuring amongst each other until Aldar turned his head to them and ordered, "Keep training like I showed you until I get back. That's an order." Lydia then quickly lead him back to Bertha and Prudence.

"According to Ginger, she got a decent look at the spell page and noticed that it was both a ritual spell and a map of where the temporary spirit gate will open." Prudence explained. "Clever gal." Aldar stated referring to Queen Myra. "Instead of opening up the actual gate, you create a temporary gate to utilize." He thought to himself and then turned back to Prudence and asked, "Did Ginger tell you whether or not the castle was deserted?" Prudence answered, "Around fifteen guards were left behind to guard the castle, but Naria herself is leading a massive army of sand soldier with around a hundred sand worms to the point of the temporary gate. Aldar thought for a moment while Bertha began lightly banging her head on the desk in frustration of having to scrap another plan because of developments. Aldar then finally spoke, "Lydia, you and Sierra go and destroy the cauldron at the castle, and the rest of us all will accompany you at the castle to gather some supplies for combat." "What kind of supplies?" Bertha nervously asked lifting her head from the desk. Aldar simply smiled and said, "Supplies designed to take out armies." Prudence asked out of basic logic, "Don't you think that she would have taken said supplies with her already?" "She doesn't even know that they exist. During the first rebellion that I was a part of, I recruited some war technicians to get an advantage on my sister. But, we were captured long before we got to use the hand thrown explosive devices." The girls then shouted in both shock and excitement, with worry thrown in, "**Grenades**?" Surprised himself from their reactions, Aldar backed off slightly with his eyes wide open and quietly responded, "Well, yah, I mean, Einstein died a while ago, didn't he? Who's to say no other war technicians made it here? If I remember correctly, there is a storage bunker in some of the castle dungeon cells with what you called 'grenades'. There should be enough to even out the ranks of the sand soldiers if we utilize the element of surprise." Bertha then turned to Prudence and asked her, "Prudence, can you ask Ginger to find a blueprint of the entire castle. There might be a sewer duct that we might be able to use to get in without having the guards detect us but I need to plan a rout." Prudence simply saluted Bertha and ran to relay the request to the large spider.

"Alright, we're going to get those grenades from the dungeon while Beetlejuice and Lydia find a way to destroy the cauldron. Is everyone clear on the plan? After that, we'll move in and mount an attack from behind, hopefully surviving in the end. Just watch your backs. The operation commences in six hours with or without Ginger's map. Be sure to let everyone know." Bertha ordered. Lydia nodded while Aldar saluted Bertha and they both moved out to relay the plan to the other ranks. Both hoped that all of their trainees and even themselves were up to the battle ahead.

End of Episode 17


	18. Episode 18 The Final Battle Part 2

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 18: The Final Battle – Part 2**

The troops gathered together both nervous and worried. "I'm not going to give you the 'many of you may live' speech." Lydia began. She was nominated to give the inspiration speech to motivate everyone. With Beetlejuice morphed into a megaphone, she was able to deliver her words to all of them. "The idea of this is to not lose a single soul in battle." She then lowered the black and white striped megaphone with eyes down to think of the situation and how happy she was to have inspired so many, but now their afterlife rests on her very shoulders and she knew that she didn't have the option of letting the pressure show. She lifted him back to speak into the megaphone. "I know that many of you lost loved ones during Naria's rule. Family members, friends, children, even husbands or wives." She then lowered Beetlejuice once again to empathize and shed her own tear for her own loss. She then raised the speaking device back up to continue, "I know what you're going through. It hurts a lot. But we have to move on. We have to find a way to stop it from happening to anyone else. We have to fight for the freedom that is truly ours." Once the last word left her mouth, the crowd began cheering and raising their weapons high into the air. Bows, spears, swords, and other variety of weapons were held high and accompanied with the roar of the crowd, pumped up to do exactly what she said. Beethejuice morphed back into himself and congratulated her, "Nice speech, Lyds. Didn't know you had it in ya." He said to her while following her to the room she selected to sleep in during the campaign. Lydia tried her best to keep her tears from continuing to run with little success. She was worried about all of the people she had just met and the friends she had known since this fiasco started. Dreading the worst but hoping for the best. She also couldn't help but think of her mother. Even when she whipped away what she thought to be the last of her tears, she instead fell into an outright bawl, wrapping her arms around Beetlejuice's waist and continuing to cry aloud into his chest.

Feeling slightly awkward, he hesitated to wrap his arms around her to attempt to calm her down. "It's a lot to carry, isn't it?" He then asked. All Lydia could do is lightly nod her head while holding on tightly to her guardian ghost and keeping her head buried in his chest to hide her tears of loss and remorse. He embraced her back for a short time to comfort her and hopefully make her feel any safer, until Lydia pushed away and whipped the remaining tears from her eyes. "We should get back to the rebellion. The operation begins soon and we are supposed to lead the regime." She informed Beetlejuice with a few sniffles and went to the bathing room to go and wash her face. Beetlejuice looked down at his waistcoat and button-up shirt and noticed the tear 'puddle' in the middle of it all. He then placed his finger in the middle of the wet mark with his own frustration and dried the moisture up using his power over inanimate objects.

"We're gonna have to do a lot of work." Aldar slightly complained. "Why's that sugar?" Sierra responded to him. "These people aren't geared for a war, hardly anyone knows even how to use what the three girls called a 'grenade' and I don't even know if they'll work. Handling fifteen or so sand soldiers only proves a single victory and I don't even know if I have the heart to allow my sister to be slain let alone slay her myself." He said solemnly. "Then don't focus on her at all. It's like you said, 'what was left of the old her died some time ago.' We can't think about it too much. She's caused too much damage to the Nietherworld and there is no way I'm letting her escape to the Outerworld." She reminded him while walking close to him. He fell silent for the rest of the march toward the castle, trying not to regret the day or think of how he could have tried better to keep all of this from happening in the first place, even though the thoughts came to him every once in a while.

Upon reaching the castle, Bertha and Lydia decided to try a three pronged assault to cut off any escape routes and keep Naria in the dark about their operations. Bertha divided the group into three teams. "Oh kay, Sierra'll be in charge of the first team. This'll consist of any members who learned to use a bow and arrow. Your team will lie in wait to pick off any enemy soldiers that get past Aldar's team." She then turned to Aldar and instructed him, "Aldar, you'll be in charge of the gate assault team. It's up to you guys to dispatch as many sand soldiers as you can once they leave the castle. I need you to take five good fighters with you." "Right." He responded and turned to find the members for his team. Bertha then turned to Lydia and said to her, "Lydia, you and Beetlejuice take the rest of the team and find a way in to the castle and drive the sand soldiers to the front gate. You're the infiltration team." Lydia decided to retort in frustration, "Don't you mean the 'bait'?" In her own frustration, Bertha simply sighed, "Call it what you want. Just go!"

Beetlejuice and Lydia once again crept their way toward the castle under cover of shadows and darkness of twilight, only this time they had a good thirty five or more amateur warriors following them hoping to get their way into the castle and take it over to avenge their fallen loved ones. "So what's the plan? How are we getting into the castle?" Rina asked Lydia in a whisper. Rather than simply answering her with words, Lydia pointed up to a particular window along the nearest wall of the castle that was fairly high up. "That window leads to the library and if I remember correctly, not many other windows are close by. The idea is to start at the top and corral them towards the front gates. Beetlejuice will fly up to the window and attach a make shift grappling hook from anything that he can find up there. Once that is set, we'll climb up in pairs and make our way through the castle while Beetlejuice finds a way to destroy the cauldron." "I have a better idea." Beetlejuice whispered to Lydia and Rina. "I can manipulate my own matter into a kind of power lift for at the most fifteen of us. That'll get as many up the tower as quickly as possible. When all of us get inside the library, we'll then start a riot and get the soldiers' attention, leading them to the front gates and distracting them while **you** go and find the cauldron." Lydia looked at Beetlejuice like she thought that he had lost his mind. "Why me?" she asked him. "Items that have touched magic like that have a tendency to explode when successfully destroyed. The spider silk would protect you from the explosion in case that happens." She looked nervous at first and gulped slightly. 'Everyone relies so much on this spider silk that I somehow got the day I was pulled into the Nietherworld. I just hope that it is as powerful as everyone believes.' She thought to herself as Beetlejuice moved forward to place himself into position and quickly morphed himself into his idea of a lift. The only thing he actually morphed into was a flat slate of black and white stripes and a pair of eyes near the front.

Lydia then counted off fifteen troops starting with Rina, Natalie and Sophie. The three of them led the group to the platform and signaled Beetlejuice when they were ready. He then swiftly, but carefully lifted the group of citizens up to what he knew to be the library window, slowing down before stopping short. The slightly jarred group of inexperienced soldiers then crawled through the windows one at a time until they were all safely inside. Beetlejuice then swiftly lowered himself back down to retrieve another group. Fifteen more piled onto him and signaled him to go. While Beetlejuice was at the window, he noticed a sand soldier looking out of the window set some feet below him. "You all got to get in quietly now. There's a guard below us." He whispered to the group while they were still slipping in one by one. Now all he could do is hope that the guard didn't look upward.

Lydia continued to hide the rest of the group in the shadows the best she could and they waited for the guard to proceed with his rounds. Finally the last of the group of rebels slipped into the window and Beeltejuice quickly morphed back into his original form and hid himself inside the library as well just as the guard did what he feared, look upward. However, Beetlejuice escaped his vision and remained unnoticed. After a few minutes, the guard passed by and toward his left, and Beetlejuice quickly morphed himself back into the platform and met Lydia and the rest of the group at the bottom. It was hardly any time at all when the entire infiltration group piled into the library to plan their next move. "Alright, I can use my powers to try and scare the soldiers while the others advance and lure them to the front gates. There are only fifteen of them but keep in mind that they can be fierce fighters if not dealt with quickly. Lydia you try and sneak past and destroy the cauldron. Don't forget to neutralize the contents before you do so. Otherwise it'll take forever to clean up. After the battle, Aldar will lead a group of us to the dungeons to try and locate those grenades. The rest of us will salvage anything else we can to gain an advantage in the next battle." And with that, Beetlejuice sank himself into the brick floor of the castle and vanished from sight.

"Lydia! Look what I found!" Rina called to her. As she approached a few others shushed her to tell her to be quiet. "Sorry." She answered bashfully. "This isn't a game Rina. You could give away our position." Natalie scolded her. "I said 'I'm sorry'." Rina retorted and the turned her attention back to Lydia. "I found this map of the interior of the castle. I thought that it might help us find our way better." Lydia studied the map for her supposed destination when she located it in a room just above the throne room. "Good job Rina. You divide up the group and lead the soldiers to the castle gates. Try not to directly engage them unless you have to. These guys are much more skilled than you guys." Rina straitened up her back and grinned largely. She then gathered the group around and spoke to Natalie. "What do you think?" Gazing at the map Natalie responded, "First we have to locate Beetlejuice and then assist him. That's all. We'll just scare them with larger numbers and whatever Beetlejuice can conjure up." Then a light bulb clicked on in her head and she turned to her other friend, "Sophie, can you still 'water dance'?" Sophie blinked twice in slight confusion and then answered, "I hope so, I'm so out of practice and I don't see any water nearby." Natalie simply placed her finger on the map, pointing to a particular room and simply smiled in mischief.

Lydia shifted through the castle interior as silently and as swiftly as she could. Getting only a short glimpse at the map before running off she wasn't exactly sure where she was going, but she did remember a short hallway that she flew through while she was in Naria's body and tried to remember as much of the map as she could. Shifting in and out of nooks and small areas that she could fit in, she avoided detection so far until she heard a high pitched scream and laugh that sounded a lot like Beetlejuice's voice. Less than two seconds later she heard the clanking of metal and the shifting of bricks move swiftly by her recent hiding place behind a support pillar near the throne room entrance. 'That must be Beetlejuice's plan. Time for the others to corral the rest of the sand soldiers to the main gate.' She thought to herself just moments before she heard the roar of her comrades hollering in excitement and running past her. She also began strangely hearing the sound of rapidly flowing water coming in close and decided to see what was making that kind of noise. What she saw was Sophie risen up by a three foot high and six foot wide water spout that traveled along the floor, picking up every drop that it left behind. She was dancing like a ballerina atop of the waterspout and looking like she was even manipulating the water slightly keeping the sand soldiers at bay. If one attacked, she seemed to block the attack without much effort. 'I'm going to have to ask them about that when I meet them after this battle.' Lydia thought to herself and made a break for the throne room.

Once she reached the enormous stone door that looked like it once had been painted red, she placed her shoulder against it and pushed with all of her might. She pushed and pushed until the large door began budging with an incredibly loud and deep creaking noise. Once it was open enough for her to slide in, she did her best to squeeze through. 'Good thing I'm so skinny.' She thought to herself as she entered the throne room. She pushed the door closed to try and stall any possible pursuit and then placed her hands on her knees and hunched forward to try and catch her breath. "I've **gotta** start doing push-ups." She complained to herself. Free to do as she pleased, Lydia casually hurried to find the room that held the cauldron. 'What do I do when I reach it?' she thought silently to herself as she wandered around the room to find any possible doorways. "I don't even have a moonwisp. I hope she has more in her lab. How do I even destroy the cauldron?" She said aloud to herself. Suddenly she heard a high raspy voice say to her, "You **don't**! You just die here!" Lydia turned around to face the voice's owner only to be greeted with three small black fireballs bouncing off of her barrier and burning out the moment they struck ground. Suddenly Demattix flew in close and ran face first into the barrier, bouncing off and reorienting himself in mid air to land on his feet. He then let out another high pitched screech that could have been ear shattering if the barrier wasn't shielding her from harm. Her ears did begin to hurt slightly from the sheer vibration of his screech so Lydia covered her ears with her hands to try and keep it from getting worse. Demattix the scraped the clawed fingers of his right hand across the ground, making sparks fly. One of those sparks ignited into a black flame that hovered in his tiny palm. Demattix then hurled the small fireball at the human girl. The ball of fire simply dissipated the moment it struck the barrier, but the imp simply lit another one in his left hand and hurled it at Lydia again. He continued this process in rapid motion and simply kept Lydia pinned down, letting out another screech every once in a while. "Come on shield don't break on me now." Lydia prayed as she tried to walk toward what she thought was a door that could lead to the lab. Suddenly Demattix lifted off of the ground and flew to place himself in between the girl and the door. He then continued his barrage of black baseball-sized fireballs. "Let's see how long you can last against my onslaught. This black fire is deadly to any living creature. I hope you find a way to survive, or you'll never even exist." Demattix mocked. Suddenly, the doors burst open and Sophie entered with her water spout, surprising both Lydia and Demattix. Demattix then found himself surrounded by water himself and lifted two feet in the air, unable to breath and being tossed around.

Lydia turned to thank Sophia until they both noticed something happening to Demattix. He seemed to be getting larger and larger. His appearance was also changing as if he was rapidly aging from a toddler into a full blown adult in mere minutes. Once he was the size of a twelve year old child, he curled into a ball and a low growl could be heard from him until he burst free from his watery prison with great force, letting out a deep and loud roar like a lion. He now stood as tall as Beetlejuice although his enormous wings made him look larger. His skin color hadn't changed but his face sure did. He now had a large masculine face with a blocked chin and large sharp teeth protruding out of his bottom jaw at the sides of his mouth. His eyes had sharpened as well and the whites of his eyes had turned black with his iris turned crimson red. His wings were now twice the size of his body and he even bulked up greatly. During their gawking, Demattix quickly scraped the claws of his right hand along the ground and lit back fireball the size of a basketball and hurled it at Sophia. The Atlantian girl instinctively crossed her arms in front of her face and commanded the water to form a shield to protect her. The fireball struck the water and caused a bunch of steam to arise from that area. But it was pretty clear that it punctured right through the water shield and struck her arms, throwing the Atlantian girl back through the large doors. He then lunged over Lydia and slammed them shut. He then scraped the claws of his right hand along the bottom of both doors. As he did that, a line of black fire arose where his claw scraped, blocking entry for anyone else.

As he did this, Lydia frantically looked around to find a weapon with only unlit torch lamps insight. So she simply decided to make a break for the door that Demattix tried so desperately to keep her from and hope that it lead to the cauldron. And hope that she could get there before she got killed by Demattix. She reached the door and opened it just as Demattix turned his head to look at her. As she shut the door the creature ran in her direction to try and wrench her from its entryway. Lydia closed the door completely and noticed a locking beam attached to it with a locking brace like in medieval times located on the bricks just beyond the door. She quickly slid the bar into place only to have the door violently jar in at her slightly and jump back into place just as fast, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. She then made her way up a circular staircase as quickly as she could, listening to the oversized imp continue to bash at the door a few more times.

She had made it nearly all of the way up the stairs when Demattix used his entire body to destroy the door and gaze around to find if he had bowled over the girl. Once he confirmed that he did not, he decided to play a few mind games with the girl. "Where are you girlie?" He called to her in his monstrous new voice. "Aren't you curious as to how I was able to transform like this?" He paused and waited to hear and answer from her. Unfortunately he heard nothing from the upstairs that he knew that she had made her way too. He also knew the layout of Naria's cauldron room. "Minions of the Underworld like me have the ability to conceal their true form to preserve their strength if there are no living souls to feed on. And I happen to be a minion of the Underworld, keeping my body in that imp-like state simply helped me live and survive this long without human flesh." He spoke as he slowly climbed the stars, allowing his voice to echo eerily through the corridor. Lydia made her way finally to the top of the stairs and tested the door that blocked her path. It slid open easily and she quietly slipped through. The same locking mechanism was on that door from within the room so she decided to use it like she did the other door. She then scoured the room for a place to hide. Eventually noticing the cauldron, she made her way over to it to view the boiling contents glowing eerie green and every so often shifting to a bright violet color. Suddenly the door jarred, startling her and causing her to accidently touch the boiling contents with the tips of her left hand. She quickly shot her hand back toward her body in pain and noticed that the tips of her fingers were burnt as if she had touched a hot pan. Then her idea bulb clicked on and she knew a way to defeat her pursuer.

Demattix rather annoyed at being barred by locked doors, forced this door open the same way as the last one. With a mighty thrust with his massive shoulder, the door latch split into splinters and the door swung open revealing the large open room used for the extraction ritual with the cauldron room just ahead. Demattix smiled evilly as he made his way to the cauldron chamber to capture his prey. "You know girlie, I think I'd rather enjoy the succulent taste of your flesh once I'm done here." He said, trying to speak in as many directions as he could while proceeding to locate her in the chamber. He failed to notice, however, a petite shadow carefully moving in the shadows of the ritual room. Demattix moved into the cauldron chamber and began looking around for Lydia, slowly approaching the cauldron. The shadow continued to quietly follow the behemoth until it reached a particular shelf and noticed a simple light blue flower. It stopped and carefully snatched the blossom from the shelf making little noise and placing it inside its outfit. Demattix finally reached the cauldron and thought to himself, 'I wonder if I can utilize the spells inside this thing currently to locate the girl.' Suddenly, he felt something snag the back of his head and thrust it toward the contents. With no time to react, his head was submerged into the purple/green liquid and he instantly felt like his head was lit on fire. Lydia held Demattix under the contents of the cauldron as long as she could bear, but her right arm began to feel as if it had caught ablaze and the intense pain soon began to be too much to bear.

Lydia yanked her arm back out of the cauldron as Demattix lifted his own head. As Lydia gazed at her arm, she noticed that her sleeve had been completely dissolved and the skin and muscle on her arm had also began to dissolve slowly and with intense pain. When she turned her gaze to Demattix, she saw a horrid sight of his entire head melting away quickly and watched as the rest of his body began melting away as well. Lydia quickly pulled out the moonwisp that she had plucked off of the shelf earlier and dropped it into the cauldron and watched as the contents quickly transformed into water like the first time. She then turned her gaze to what she thought may have been Demattix at one point but now was just a puddle of melted flesh and bone. Her arm was still in intense pain and so she decided to try and cool off her wounds by placing it in the cauldron's water. To her surprise, her arm began regenerating the lost flesh until it was once again complete and her pain had now subsided. She then placed her left hand inside and watched as it healed as well. "Lucky for me that the spider silk did everything it could to suppress the effect of whatever that stuff was." Lydia said to herself realizing full well that Beetlejuice felt that as well. "Now to destroy this thing."

End of Episode 18


	19. Episode 19 The Final Battle Part 3

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 19: The Final Battle – Part 3**

The plan was going exceedingly well, the troops were holding their own against the sand soldiers, the archers' shots were also striking their targets more often the longer the battle took. Eventually the last sand soldier fell to the enormous hammer of one of the giant furry monsters they've come to know as 'monsters across the street' since the father of the family literally knocked one sand solder clear across the length of a eight lane street before it fell into dust. Suddenly Beetlejuice felt his right arm begin to burn as if it was lit on fire. "Lydia must be in trouble." He thought to himself and began rushing back toward the castle hanging onto his burning arm. It wasn't long until he felt the pain in his arm simply sooth away. Confused and bewildered, Beetlejuice stopped for a second to try and process what had just happened. He soon continued on with his pursuit of Lydia to try and get some answers. Dashing through the main hallway and making his way to the audience chamber he noticed a teenage Atlantian girl lying on the ground not moving. Thinking the worst, he went over to assist. He placed his left hand onto the shoulder of the young girl and gently pulled on it to shift her body so that she was lying on her back. He saw that her red dress had been burnt through and that she had a nasty third degree burn on her stomach. Beetlejuice then lowered his head to her mouth to check to see if she was breathing at all. When he felt faint week breaths, he called back to the celebrating soldiers. "Hey! I've got wounded over here!" He called out with a voice that sounded like it emanated from a megaphone. He caught the attention of the entire group and they came to see who of them it was.

The other three Atlantian girls, Aldar and Sierra were the first to arrive on the scene. Upon recognizing their friend, the other three girls simply fell onto tears while Sierra checked for signs that she hasn't been destroyed. "The fact that she still is here is good." She mentioned. She then tilted her head toward the girl's mouth and felt for breathing just like Beetlejuce did. She then raised her head and declared, "She's ok. She'll live...so to speak." The other three girls began to hug one another in relief but still couldn't hold back their tears for their friend.

Lydia rubbed her right arm still baffled as to what went on. "Perhaps it would be wise to take some of this water with me." She thought to herself, and fetched some empty bottles from atop some of the shelves. She then dipped them into the cauldron and allowed them to fill up with the new solution. She filled up as many as she could carry and then decided to bring them downstairs to show the rest of the regime. "I just hope that it works on lost souls the way it worked on me. I also hope that the battle is over." She thought aloud to herself. Once she made her way downstairs, she could hear light crying coming from the other side of the throne room. As she gazed over she noticed the entire rebellion gathered together just looking at something. Suddenly she remembered the battle with Demattix, "Sophie!" she gasped and hurried to assist her. Lydia swiftly made her way over to the group of amateur warriors and friends until she ended up pushing her way through to see the Atlantian girl that helped her. "Is she alright?" Lydia blurted out wanting to stay politically correct in this world. Sierra shot her head back to look at Lydia with shock in her expression. "Lydia, you startled me." She responded. Sierra took a couple of breaths before answering, "Yes she'll be fine. It'll take her a few days to recover her consciousness and even longer for her to recover from the wound but, she'll be alright. What've y'all got there?" Lydia picked out one of the jars that she carried with her and said, "The liquid in the cauldron can be purified with a moonwisp. The resulting mixture apparently has healing effects about as powerful as the original mixture is volatile. I think we should bottle up as much of this stuff as we can before destroying the cauldron." Lydia then tipped the open jar and poured the liquid on Sophie's burn, hoping that it would have the same effect. The rest of the regime watched as the third degree burn faded away into non existence and Sophie then began to stir awake. Rina, Natalie and Nina broke out into a smile and filled up with hope that their friend was awakening. Sophie, then slowly opened her eyes and propped herself upon her elbows as she gazed at her stomach. "Awe, my favorite dress." She complained just before the other three lunged in to give her a three way hug. She cringed in more pain as she lifted her forearms up to see them covered in similar burns to what was healed on her stomach. Lydia simply poured the same liquid down both of them and she witnessed as the burns simply vanished. Amazed and slightly confused, Sophie simply squeaked out, "Thanks. How?" Lydia re-explained, "It's purified cauldron mixture. There are gallons more upstairs. We should take as much as we can." For the next twenty minutes, half of the rebellion worked on bottling the mixture in the cauldron, while the other half followed Aldar to fetch the grenades.

Lydia stayed with Beetlejuice as they assisted in bottling up the purified contents of the cauldron. "I can't help thinking that this is just a bit wrong." Beetlejuice solemnly stated while staring at the clear-blue liquid. "What do you mean?" Lydia asked in question to his statement. Beetlejuice pulled up another ladle full of purified mixture and said to her, "This stuff is created by purifying the cauldron's contents which is made from the essence of lost souls." Lydia thought for a moment to the logic of his argument until she decided to tell him a white lie to try and cheer him up. "When I was in Naria's body, some things started making sense to me. Things I think that she knew and learned. If you think of it this way, the cauldron's mixture turns dark because of the lost soul's fear as it is mixed in with the rest of it. I think that the moonwisp purified their fears and its healing qualities come from their will to help us out. So why don't we let them?" Beetlejuice simply glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and blurted out, "You just made that up on the fly." Lydia couldn't help but chuckle at her own failure as she scooped in another ladle full of mixture into a clear bottle. "Not used to thinking so illogically?" He then added in question. Lydia continued chuckling and simply shook her head to say 'no I'm not". Beetlejuice leaned in and said quietly, "You're not even a good liar." Now Lydia burst out onto a light laughter and nearly spilled some of the liquid on her shoes.

"So how do we destroy this thing when we're done?" Beetlejuice then asked her as he handed off another full bottle to Nina. Lydia handed her latest filled bottle off to Rina before saying, "Wouldn't dropping it out of the window work?" Beetlejuice simply shook his head and stated, "Not unless you wanna lug the entire thing back up and watch it put a crater in the courtyard. You have to destroy it from the inside and even then, I'd clear the area. Remember, magical items have the tendency to explode when damaged badly enough." Lydia then got an idea when she heard the word 'explode'. "What if we detonate a grenade from inside the cauldron?"

Aldar and Sierra decided to stick together as they and six others went looking for the stash of the devices the earth girls called 'grenades' that Aldar's friend supposedly put away in various cells. The small group reached the dungeons only to meet face to face with the dungeon's cold stagnant air. The transition was startling, at once a cool mountain-like breeze caressing her skin, Sierra suddenly felt as if she was covered in insects. The tingling feeling clung to her skin from her feet and climbed up her entire body causing her to shudder. Memories of sitting in his cell, board stiff, flooded Aldar's mind as they opened the first cell door. Aldar destroyed the lock with but a single swing of the soul eater. One of the search party then entered as Aldar made his way to the next cell and repeat the process. Aldar made it his responsibility to cut open the cells while the rest of the team looked for any strange objects and any hiding places within the cells.

An hour and a half later, all of the cells were searched and the team had put together over sixty small white spheres about the size of a baseball, each with fuses as long as a foot sticking out of one side. "Well, all that's left now is to test one and hope that they still work." Aldar announced with slight worry and slight relief. His eyebrows were raised upward and scrunched in towards his forehead. He also raised the right half of his mouth in a kind of half-smile to show his worry. Sierra gently placed her right hand on his left shoulder to try and comfort him as much as she could until one of the zombies that had accompanied them piped in, "They had better work. These things are supposed to be our 'game changers'. There is no way we can stop them if these things don't have enough 'bang' in them." "Trust me, if Ulous made them, they've got plenty of 'bang', my worry is whether or not the powder still is in working order." Aldar replied in defense of his friend. "So why were they hidden in multiple cells?" Sierra asked as they piled as many of the grenades in their arms as they could. "Ulous was purposely a rowdy prisoner and was constantly breaking out of his cells after hiding enough of these 'grenades' in his current cell. He would escape, make his creations and then hide them in the cell that he was currently in. In fact, I don't even know if the guards even realized that he was a spider runt and capable of squeezing through the outer bars. Talk about dumb." And they all laughed at the expense of the sand soldiers.

As Aldar and the others walked back into the main hall of the castle, Lydia and Beetlejuice were there to meet them. "Did you find them?" Lydia asked with a twinge of excitement in her voice. Aldar simply plucked one of the small white orbs from his stock and showed it to her. "I think we managed." He said coyly to her. "Is that spider webbing for the casing?" They heard Ginger ask from behind Lydia. She swiftly crawled up the spider silk and onto Lydia's shoulder, accidently giving her the shivers. "I'll never get used to that!" She exasperated. Ginger just gave her an awkward apology grin and then turned back to the sphere in front of her. "It is. Ulous Spinskier was the one who made them. He also said that if done right that they could make an amazing spectacle for a celebration." Aldar blurted out. Lydia simply grunted in realization, "Fireworks? Those are just some fireworks?" "Not these. Little missy." Aldar corrected her. Ulous was a master craftsman in this kind of field. They'll do exactly as he said they'll do. And he told me that these babies could blow a quarter of a town block clear off of the map." Lydia was now amazed at the description but still had her doubts. "So, do they work?" She asked out of curiosity. Aldar simply looked at the thing in his had questionably and replied, "We won't know until we test one." "We also need to find a way of lighting them." Lydia retorted. Aldar looked at her with a simple question in his eyes. "What do you mean 'lighting them'?" "Oh, you need to light the wick and throw it before the wick burns to the canister. The speed at which the wick burns tells you how long you have until it goes off." Lydia explained to him from her basic knowledge of how bottle rockets work. "So we need to touch a flame to the string coming out of the sphere and just throw it into a crowd of sand soldiers?" Aldar asked. Lydia nodded in confirmation to him and he simply smiled in revelation, "That sounds simple enough."

"Do you think I could borrow that one?" Lydia asked Aldar. Hesitant, he asked her in a single word, "Why?" Lydia gave him a serious expression as she answered him, "I'm gonna use it to blow up the cauldron." The entire group that had followed Aldar stared at the girl with a look of horror until the idea sank into their heads. "There's no way y'all survive the blast. We don't even know how long it takes for the wick to burn like you said." Sierra complained. Lydia turned to her even more serious than before and retorted, "I'm counting on the spider silk's shield." "And according to my calculations, the fuse could burn out anywhere from fifty to sixty seconds." They heard Prudence pipe in from behind Beetlejuice. "Of course that's just a rough guess." "So I have almost an entire minute to light it, drop it into the empty cauldron and get back down stairs. I think I can do that."

The time had come now, Lydia had no idea what would happen, and she didn't even know if the plan would work correctly. All she knew was that she had to try something. Griping the spider thread wound spherical device, she gulped down her worries and fears in an effort to quell them before trekking back to the cauldron. She had made sure to find something to light it with and found that Beetlejuice kept some old matches in his pocket for emergencies. She stared at the destroyed door of the stairway that she climbed to escape the true form of Demattix and shivered at the memory that had surfaced. Reluctantly, Lydia continued upward around the spiral staircase to the top floor and entered through the second destroyed door. As she passed through it, she shuddered once again at the raw strength of the creature that she had destroyed along with her own arm. She gripped her right arm out of reaction of the memory's pain and thanked her lucky stars that the purified contents had intense medicinal qualities. She couldn't help it, but she thought back to that moment, remembering how the contents of the cauldron had dissolved a large portion of her skin and even began dissolving the muscle underneath. She then pictured the way her arm's tissues rapidly re-grew while submerged in the purified mixture, as if it was reversing the damage that had been caused.

Still gripping her right arm from her memories of her encounter with the demonic creature called Demmatix, she held the small grenade in her right hand and continued to look around the spell chamber, curious and frightened all at once. She cautiously crept up to the cauldron that had been the source of torment for the entire Neitherworld and gazed inside nervously. "It all seemed less scary with the purified contents being passed out and bottled up. At least then I had someone to talk to and my life wasn't in peril." She thought aloud to herself. She then used her right hand to gently place the bomb with the fuse pointing to the ceiling. She then reached into her left hip pocket and pulled out the small packet of matches that had the 'Scream Burgers' name and logo on the front cover, and gently pulled out one of the paper matches. She then folded the cover over to pinch the match in between the front cover and the strike strip on the back. The match caught fire as she pulled it from in between the two covers and she covered the tiny flame using her hand as a shield from the wind until the match was safely inside the cauldron's walls. The fuse began to spark violently a few seconds after the flame touched the tip and the fuse began to continue sparking slowly along its length. Lydia then grasped the packet of matches in her hand and made a beeline for the door and staircase. Picking up and firmly planting her feet as fast as she could, the human girl raced carefully down the spiral staircase and made it back to the lower room within thirty seconds. She raced out to the main entryway of the castle and reached the castle doors moments before the bomb went off. The explosion was enormous, destroying the entire tower that it was concealed in. Brick and flames burst out in all directions, falling harshly to the ground around the poor girl.

The rest of the group had gone ahead and began the march toward the queen's position to set up an ambush and frontal assault for the future of two worlds. Lydia did all that she could to dodge any and all falling objects as they crash landed all around her. A large chunk of stone from the castle wall of the tower buried itself into the ground a mere two feet ahead of her and Lydia shrieked out at the sudden start and made an effort to try and run around it as smaller debris bounced off of the spider silk barrier.

Finally, she was out of the debris rain and stopped a moment to catch her breath and to look back at the castle. The tower where the cauldron was hidden was torn in half with the upper half being scattered all over the castle grounds. Lydia gazed around for any signs of the cauldron to see if it was destroyed and eventually found a shard of the large pot's rim and wall. As she picked up the cauldron shard, it began crumbling into dust upon the ground in front of her. A sense of relief washed over Lydia as she then turned around to make an attempt to meet up with the march. "They shouldn't have gotten too far." She reassured herself.

It didn't take her long to catch up with the rest of the group, and she felt rather exhausted when she did. She collapsed to her knees when she had finally gotten within speaking range of her friends and Beetlejuice came over to lift her upon his back to allow her to rest. "So what happened? We saw a huge fireball come from the castle. Was the cauldron destroyed?" Claire asked her worn out friend. Groggy and still exhausted, Lydia answered, "Yah. Yah, it was destroyed." She then closed her eyes to rest herself for the attack. Claire then walked along side both her friend and Beetlejuice silently for a good ten minutes, thinking about everything that has happened so far. "So what happens now?" She finally asked. Beetlejuice solemnly looked at Claire and answered her question. "I don't know. All we can do is protect all of those we can. This is my home. Until I met Lydia, I didn't know any other place. Like her, I just wanna protect both worlds. But I'm used to fighting for my life. What about you?" Claire looked at the ground ahead of her and thought some more about the situation, 'They're right about one thing. If we don't stop her, we all will pay the price and loose both worlds. Inevitably, we'll have to fight her. There's no way around that, but what about the world's militaries?' She thought to herself before asking, "But the Outerworld has militaries on every country, shouldn't we leave it up to them? They are specifically trained for wars like this." "I'm not gonna risk that. Besides, most of your conventional weapons won't do much damage to those soldiers." Beetlejuice answered. "But militaries have explosive devices even more powerful than these tiny grenades that we've got. And they even have larger supplies." Claire argued. "Yes, but what do you think would happen if the living discovered a doorway to other worlds. Even if they defeated Naria, there would most likely be a massacre of all of the other worlds that they discovered. You humans are prone to fear and panic. There would be a great chance that there would be a dimensional war, especially if the first thing to come through was an army of creatures made of sand." Beetlejuice responded. Claire thought about those words and replied with an exasperated sigh, "You have a point."

**End of Episode 19**


	20. Episode 20 The Final Battle Last Part

**Beetlejuice**

**Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga**

**Episode 20: The Final Battle – Part 4**

That night they pitched their tents and camped under the stars. Aldar stood watch with three others, guarding the camp at four sides with alternating shifts. He looked out along his surroundings to survey the land for any sand soldier stragglers but found nothing amongst the barren land. His mind wandered back to the time when these lands used to be covered in light bluish-green blades of windgrass, a grass that held with it the fragrance of a cool waterfall breeze and was soothing to a weary traveler. The wild flowers of various colors and shades made the field look even fuller of life. 'The land of the dead seemed to be a nicer place to live while it was peaceful and calm. Wanderers could roam with a sense of peace that they would once again return home to the awaiting arms of their loved ones. Children could play without fear of letting monsters get them. Oh, Naria what have you done?' He thought to himself as a teardrop fell down his cheek.

The night was eventless and the group of misfits arose from their camp rested and fully relaxed. Lydia awoke from her sleep to the sun beaming its light onto her face. It was a warm day and the march was going to be long. She exited her makeshift tent to try and stretch out the kinks from her sleep only to find Aldar awaiting her near the entrance. "We should have been marching two hours ago. We still have another day's journey ahead of us and we still don't even know what the land layout looks like." He complained to her. "What did you expect form a group of vigilantes? We're not exactly accustomed to war as you are. And as for the land layout, I can send Beetlejuice ahead to scout the area. His ability to morph should come in handy for a mission like that." Lydia suggested. Beetlejuice walked up to them with both of his ears lit ablaze. "My ears are burning. You two talking about me?" He asked innocently. Lydia shrieked at the sight of his ears lit on fire and grabbed her own out of slight pain. She soon realized that it was in her head though. "Beetlejuice, you ears!" Lydia then quickly said to him. He then placed his right hand on his right ear and felt the fire burning at his fingers. "Ah! What the?" He then stopped panicking as he realized that he wasn't feeling any real pain. "Literal translation?" He then retorted with annoyance. "Literal translation." Both Lydia and Aldar responded in unison. After Beetlejuice beat out the flames that danced on his ears, he returned to his earlier question. "I heard my name being used. Did you need me for something?" "Yes." Aldar jumped in before Lydia could begin talking. "We need you to move ahead of us and scout the area where my sister is attempting to open the temporary door. After you figure out the best place to stage an ambush, you need to come and report it to Bertha and I. We need to know the exact location to strike." Beetlejuice looked at Aldar like he possibly could be crazier than he. "Why don't you just ask her about her current plan?" He asked. "She found a detailed world map in the castle library and kept it. She already knows the layout of the land." That information came as quite a shock to Lydia but Aldar still kept his stern look. "She may have a map, but no one knows where my sister has her troops stationed. That kind of information may give an even better advantage for the battle to come. And only you have the ability to spy on them unnoticed in a completely open area." Reluctantly, Beetljuice morphed himself into the Neitherworld's fastest flying creature. Looking similar to a falcon in so many ways but he still couldn't escape the black and white stripes along his wings, he flew off in the direction that he knew the march was headed at three times the speed of the group's march.

Within eight hours, Beetlejuice reached the enemy camp. Noticing a flock of crows perched in a nearby tree, he morphed himself to blend in with the crowd and spy on the army. Looking out of the eye located on the left side of his head, he began to count the massive numbers, taking note how many were in a platoon and then counting the numbers of platoons and ranks. Around five hundred thousand sand soldiers, and sand golems he counted and over ten dozen sand worms all ready to take over the Outerworld. Beetljuice gulped heavily at the sheer numbers of both sand soldiers and sand worms. 'This is going to be a lot harder than I thought. She must have brought every sand worm in the Neitherworld. There won't be any way of even getting close to her if we engage them with the equipment we have.' He thought to himself. 'The first grenade would alert them of an attack and then we would lose our advantage and they may scatter, making the grenades less effective. The best way would to attempt to take on the witch immediately and take her out quickly. But how to do that?' He looked around for any place to set up the ambush without too much risk of being spotted too early.

From his perch, he could clearly see a set of ruins a simple half mile to the left of the army. The only problem was that he also could clearly see a small group of sand worms from there. And if you could see a sand worm from that distance, they could definitely smell you. And destroying them was out of the question, they scream loudly as they die. He continued to look around when he noticed another set of ruins just behind the tree he was perched on. The wind blew to the east as Beetlejuice looked around to get his bearings. Naria stood at the closed doorway of another ruined building that resembled a kind of temple. On either side of the doorway, stood two golden statues that looked like centaurs aiming arrows made of silver from their golden bows right through the door. She faced to the south as her army also did. She had her arms raised to the sky chanting in a demonic tongue the words to open the pathway. Her army was divided into twenty platoons each consisting of countless numbers of sand soldiers or sand golems. Four platoons of sand worms were placed on either side of the massive main army. Beetlejuice felt the wind blow in a westward direction and was relieved that it wasn't carrying his sent to the sand worms. A brilliant idea then hit him like a ton of bricks and he flew back off to meet with his comrades.

He met back with the group within five hours of flight. Feeling tired from all of his flying Beetlejuice landed in front of Bertha to try and save time. He then morphed back into his original form and relayed his information to her remembering every detail of her massive army. Upon coming to the same conclusion, that the best way to end this quickly is to take out Naria herself as soon as possible, Bertha continued to march with the group while mapping out the best possible method of doing so, consorting with Aldar to have her plans thought over by a professional General. The only problem that was consistent was how they were going to reach Naria to take her down. Aldar reminded everyone that his sister can now read her opponent's thought in advance simply by looking them in the eye and that she was no pushover either. "First things first." Bertha stated to Aldar. "We need to clear a path to her and get to her fast. If we all attack at once, she might not be able to catch up with a barrage." "That's all good, but what about getting surrounded on all sides? Cutting down the middle is extremely risky." Aldar responded. "Our only option is to use these grenades to take out as many as possible and utilize long ranged combat for as long as possible. After that we take the rest head on." Bertha hated to admit that but it was the truth. With thousands of soldiers and dozens of sand worms to contend with, all she could do was hope that the sand worms were distracted by the smell of the gun powder long enough to take control of the battle. Suddenly Prudence piped in, "Well, you do need to save a group of grenades for the sand worms. Any of them that aren't killed in the blast will most definitely be disoriented for a time by the shock wave as long as they are close enough." Aldar and Bertha looked at each other with bewilderment and then turned back to the tiny girl. "Prudence, you're a genius." Bertha exclaimed. "Yah, I know." Prudence answered with dead honesty and lacking any hint of an ego.

They were nearing the ruins that Beetlejuice described near the crow's tree, and finally settled down for a rest from their march, making as little noise as possible. Aldar, crept around, letting as many of the troops know of the plan as possible and the rest spread it through whispers, while Prudence made calculations to time the grenades well enough to explode without sitting there too long and giving away their position. After making the appropriate calculations she used a small knife borrowed from one of the Neitherworldian residents and cut the grenade fuses to the appropriate length. As she handed the altered grenades off to one resident each she reminded them, "Remember, throw as close to the middle of the platoon as possible." And to any that were assigned to take out sand worm platoons she said, "Throw high, as close to their heads as you can get. Just be sure to get it there." As she handed them out she continued to calculate numbers from what she witnessed back at the castle as one destroyed the cauldron. Remembering the enormous red and green fireball engulf nearly half of the castle tower and continue outward destroying even the castle wall that was attached and anything else that was nearby. She presumed that the throne room was engulfed in flames as well as nearly an eighth or more of the entire castle.

Two more hours passed by as the Neitherworld's orange sun finally fell below the horizon to allow the darkness of night to fill the sky. The stars began to appear one by one for a time and then began appearing in clusters that grew in numbers until the number of stars in the sky became countless, each representing a grain of shining courage among the sixty or so nervous and untrained soldiers of the rag-tag rebellion. On Bertha's command, each took their grenade in hand and lit its fuse using Beetlejuice's right thumb after he used the literal translation trick to his advantage. One by one the grenades took to the sky and one by one came down upon its targeted group. Prudence realized that she had made a slight calculation the moment the first one went off. Its explosion was massive, wiping out nearly forty or more soldiers in a single fireball.

The land began lighting up with fire as Naria turned around, startled at a loud deep noise. Her eyes widened as more explosions continued to rain down upon her army and even destroying many of her sand worms. "What magic is this?" She shouted as more fireballs erupted from the ground. Suddenly she noticed a single white ball with sparks nearly touching its surface fly near the corner of the building that she was using to open the gate and erupt in a large fireball that covered her completely and destroying the two statues at the door's entrance and the door entrance with them. She instinctively used some of the power she inherited from absorbing souls with magic capabilities and manipulated the flames around her to keep herself safe. What she didn't expect was the shockwave just before the flames. Once it hit, she was thrown back and into another flaming ball of fire. Manipulating any flames that came near her with magic, she stood back up and cleared the flames away only to see her brother at the head of a small group of archers with arrows loaded. As he thrust his sword toward the ground, the troops released the arrows and sent them flying at random dazed and confused soldiers. She saw as the archers then quickly and smoothly loaded another arrow onto their strings and firing just as fast. Their accuracy was astounding for a group of fighters that obviously banded together recently. "Don't just stand there and get slaughtered. **Attack**!" She shouted to her soldiers. They quickly regained their composure and picked up weapons they came across before charging in. "**Demattix**?" She then screamed back toward the castle. "**Demattix where are you**?" As she gazed in the direction of her castle, she noticed a plume of smoke rising up from its approximate location.

"For the Neitherworld, **charge**!" Aldar yelled as even more rebels poured out from behind the ruins stationed near the tree. As they did the roar of ten thousand men boomed from their voices like the number of the stars in the sky, proving once and for all their courage. As the main attack commenced, the archers rushed into the heat of battle drawing their bows, firing arrows and reloading at quickened speeds. Others swinging weapons of their choosing and the two 'Monster-across-the-street' parents, both wielding large war hammers. The final battle had finally begun for the fate of the Neitherworld. Even Lydia clumsily swung a sword that she had picked up from the battle field. With her spider silk shield protecting her from harm, she slew soldier after soldier with Beetlejuice at her side who also wielded a sword of his own.

Desperate, Naria turned around to the gate only to see that it was leveled to the ground and that she would have to rebuild it from scratch. Furious, she turned around and set her sights on her brother who she found offing more of her sand worms with ease since it took them so long to recover from disorientation. She briskly began to walk toward him, picking up a crimson spear off of the ground during her approach. The remaining six sand worms had fallen victim to their own fear as they hurriedly slithered away to the nearest cliff to drop back into the sand pits. Naria, however, fixed her gaze on Aldar ready to thrust the spear through his back. He turned around just in time to parry with the soul eater and grind the blade up the spear's shaft and deadlock his sister in combat. Sparks flew as the blade glided upward toward the tip of the spear and stopped around eighteen inches from it. Naria glaring at her brother with pure hatred written on her face and Aldar with justice and determination written on his. Naria pushed away with the spear to regain some distance between them and use the spear's long reach to her advantage. Aldar blocked with his sword and pushed the spear toward the ground. A group of sand soldiers decided to aid their queen and tried to fight Aldar alongside her, which Aldar had no problems dispatching.

Firing arrow after arrow, Claire found herself taking the combat idea pretty well considering that she was completely nervous about the whole thing at first. Every time she released an arrow, she thought about her parents. She soon found herself running low on arrows until she felt herself kick something on the ground. The sheen of silver caught her attention as she looked down to the ground to find a gleaming silver arrow from the destroyed statues. Upon examination, she noticed that it actually was a real arrow with silver colored fletching. She quickly picked it up and loaded the peculiar arrow into her quiver just before she was knocked over by the fist of a sand golem. She flew twenty feet backward before she skidded to a stop, dazed and winded.

Sierra, Lydia and Beetlejuice left Ginger and Jacques to their battle, with Ginger tossing small balls of web to blind the soldiers and Jacques swinging his crimson spear to take them out. Somehow they made a perfect team and Ginger never missed a target. Beetlejuice made his way as quickly as he could to face off against the evil queen. Once he was face to face with her he motioned for Aldar to step aside and said to Naria, "It's payback time for the last time we fought. This time you have no sand worms to back you up." Holding his katana directly in front of him he readied himself for battle. "Oh, but it'll end all the same you freak." Naria taunted back before thrusting her spear in his direction. A battle continued to rage on between the two. Sparks flying from every one of their strikes and parries. Beetlejuice nimbly jumped and dodged her strikes while Naria focused her attention on Beetlejuice's eyes to predict as many of his moves as she could. They soon began making taunts while battling each other. "I should have sent you to oblivion long ago. I should have been queen after her! I deserve it all!" Naria started in her blind rage. "After the way you ran the Neitherworld into the ground, you barely deserve the power to communicate to the sand worms." Beetlejuice retorted in his own anger. Before Beetlejuice could then react, Naria reared her right arm back to her head and thrust it forward, letting loose a lightning bolt from her palm. The lightning bolt then struck Beetlejuice in the chest, throwing him backward around sixteen feet and flat onto his back. Lydia cringed at the pain she felt from Beetlejuice's injury but was relieved to see him begin to get back up to his feet. Suddenly, she felt a strange new sensation. Rage and hatred boiled up from inside of her for no apparent reason and she dropped her sword, feeling as if she was going to be swallowed into darkness. Her consciousness fell black as her body began to transform with the building rage. Naria turned to see Lydia sensing something different with both the girl and her guardian ghost. Turning her gaze back and forth between the two she noticed Beetlejuice transform at the same time as Lydia. Realizing that it was most likely an effect of the guardian ghost pact she turned her full attention back to Beetlejuice. "What in the hell are you?" She whispered to herself. She witnessed as Beetlejuice's and Lydia's eyes turned crimson red along the whites and the iris' turning a dark and foreboding gray. Lydia's fingernails began to sharpen and lengthen while Beetlejuice's nails became as razor sharp claws. Beetlejuice's hair began to tint red and even lengthen while all of their canine teeth lengthened and sharpened, built for tearing into flesh.

Suddenly, both Beetlejuice and Lydia felt a hard knock against the back of their heads and Beetlejuice then fell unconscious, face first on the ground, with Aldar standing behind him. "Sorry friend, this battle's mine to fight." He said, as he saw Lydia slowly transform back to her original form. Any sand soldiers that witnessed the event simply ran away in fear, a primal instinct embedded onto the core of every soul, and something that Naria wasn't able to remove when infusing the souls into the sand bodies. Lydia's consciousness returned to her as she was now confused as to what happened only to see Beetlejuice collapsed on the ground in front of Aldar. "**Aldar**! What did you do?" She screamed barely noticing the panicking sand soldiers. All he said in return was, "Look after him, I'll take my sister." Without warning, he then dashed toward Naria to continue his battle with her. Sparks flew as the soul eater clashed against a crimson spear. Not even uttering a single word to each other, they fought more ferociously than anyone could possibly imagine. Each clash of weapons shook the legs of every walking creature on the battlefield. Naria spread her mist wings and took to the air as the eye on the soul eater began to glow with power. Aldar clenched his teeth as he felt his soul be drained from the soul eater's exchange as his entire body filled with pure physical strength. He then leapt off of the ground like he was launched out of a cannon, sword in hand ready to strike down the witch until he felt his back sting as six arrows buried their tips in his flesh.

Sierra witnessed as six arrows lodged themselves into the back of her lover. "Aldar!" She screamed and then shifted her gaze to see six sand soldier archers aiming again at him. She immediately drew an arrow and fired at the closest archer, striking him down and turning him back into sand. The other five then turned their attention to where the strike came from just in time to have another one take an arrow in between the eyes. Sierra then quickly drew another arrow and struck down another sand soldier just as the other three loaded their own bows looking to strike her down and send her to the Underworld until another arrow struck one in the back. The other two fell consecutively without even firing a shot. Behind them stood Claire with her bow lowered and a smile on her face that said, 'you're welcome'.

During that time, Naria took advantage of Aldar's wounds and used the spear to knock the soul eater out of his hand. The sword fell to the ground below as the witch then spun the spear around and thrust its tip through her brother's chest without thinking. Aldar yelled out in pain as the spear head plunged through his body and out of his back. Sierra watched in horror as Aldar fell from the sky and landed with a thud on the ground below. Once the reality of the situation set in, Sierra screamed at the top of her lungs and rushed to her lover's side, while Naria slowly turned her slightly horrified gaze to her right hand, noting that it was covered in her brother's blood, never even dreaming that one day her little game of cat and mouse would end like this. In the past she would often dream of toying with her brother until he decided to join her, now she had just shattered her own dream. She hovered in the air waiting for the reactions of the others to try and sort out what had just happened. She watched as the Atlantian princess rushed to his side and cradled his head in her left arm while placing her right arm over his body, grabbing onto his left shoulder. She continued watching as tears streamed down Sierra's face like a river flowing down a steep mountain. Aldar, slowly and weakly opened his eyes to smile at her and attempt to talk even though his blood was leaking into his throat. Sierra screamed in random directions, calling for what they named 'medical broth' but no one came fast enough. His body faded from her arms while she repeatedly said, "No" louder and louder as the suspense built up. His body finally vanished, leaving behind the soul eater only twenty feet away, with its tip buried in the dirt and keeping it stuck straight upward with the handle pointed skyward.

Naria then slowly floated back down to the ground, landing gracefully and trying to keep back her own tears. The feeling of sadness wasn't exactly new to her, she felt it on a regular basis when no one was looking, regretting every action she had ever taken but still letting it eat her up inside. Suddenly, Sierra stood back up, snatching her bow and drawing an arrow from her quiver, her eyes filled with hatred for Naria's actions. She fired the arrow at the queen only to have her catch the arrow with her right hand. Sierra quickly drew her next arrow and fired it at her again. Naria caught the arrow with her other hand and Sierra reached back to her quiver only to find it empty. Naria smiled evilly and then felt a stinging thud in her chest. Her breath quickly left her as she looked down to find a silver arrow sticking out of her left breast, her own blood the same color as her brother's. Naria then looked in the direction that the arrow came from only to see the blond girl with her hair tussled from battle. Her bangs fell over her nose and her side bangs fell just in front of her ears. Her hair lay upon her head like a golden battle helmet. Suddenly the words of the prophecy came back to the mind of Lydia who witnessed the whole thing. "After a thousand years of peace, a shadow envelops the land. And the shadow shall rule with a grip of iron and sand. The silk of the spider shall emerge from her great sleep. And protect and free the oppressed, hungry, and week. As the great gates open and the battles begin. A maiden shall slay the shadows of sin. With a golden helmet upon her head, and a silver arrow upon her bow, she'll slay the shadow in the spider's stead and the land will shine with a new dawn's glow." Just as she finished repeating the words a dark and sinister voice rang in the minds of every Neitherworldian and Lydia. It said, "For your many sins, I now claim your soul to torment." Suddenly, a ring of crimson energy formed on the ground around Naria. The energy closed in on her and began covering her boots. Suddenly, shriveled arms with rotten flesh hanging off reached up, grabbed Naria by the legs and began dragging her down into the energy like it was quicksand with zombies. Naria began to struggle violently screaming at the top of her lungs, "No, I can't go now. I'm sorry brother. I never..." Her words were cut off as the decayed arms pulled her quickly under the energy. The energy then simply dissolved into thin air as silence fell.

Moments after that, the sand soldiers and sand golems began falling into dust on their own. One by one they collapsed, not only releasing their captive souls, but restoring them to their former selves. Lightly decayed zombies, vampires, werewolves, other Atlantians, even dead humans returned to being themselves. The only ones that didn't return were the ones slain in battle, the ones eaten by the soul eater, or the ones still held captive by sand worms. Lydia then heard a groan come from behind her. "What hit me?" Beetlejuice asked groggily. Lydia smiled with relief as she saw her guardian ghost sit up from being knocked out by Aldar. Then she remembered Sierra and turned to see her bawling her eyes out over her loss. Not knowing what to say, Lydia simply lowered her head to pay her respects.

The next day, Lydia, Ben, Claire, Bertha and Prudence went back to the Outer world with heavy hearts for their fallen friend. They still had a few more days before their school vacation ended so they decided to actually camp for a night. That night, Lydia cried herself to sleep once again dreaming about her mother's death and wishing that there was away to see her again. It was a heavy time for all of the girls. And they all had heavy dreams to go with their experiences.

**End of The Neitherworld Saga**


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